Magic EXE: The Video Game
by DetectiveSky612
Summary: When a teen with no memory is dropped into a dark forest with no identity, a small clockwork sprite, and only a sword and crossbow to defend himself with, he finds that help is available to those that ask for it... Join Alabaster Dresden as he blunders through the main story: Harry Potter. Ongoing Gamer-inspired SI fic starting around the start of Philosopher's Stone.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, Internet, and welcome to Magic EXE!

I wrote this because I had a head-full-to-bursting list of ideas from reading fanfics like Verdant Gamer and Gaming for Glory.

To be honest, I only read those two to get the inspiration here.

And because I think two meta-Gamers running around Remnant is enough, I decided to plop my OC right-smack-dab in the middle of Wizarding Britain.

Enjoy!

* * *

Darkness.

That's all I saw at first.

But then some light grew.

It was faint at first, brightening just enough to keep the room dark but let me see my surroundings vaguely.

I looked around. It was a small, stone-floored room, circular in shape, the walls done with black tiling.

As I circumspected, a small brazier sat where I was looking as I turned back.

I was fairly sure it hadn't been there before.

A fire crackled in its coals, lending warmth and comfort to the underground chamber.

At least, I thought it was underground. It definitely smelled something like an underground parking garage.

I blinked a few times, rubbing away sleep as I stretched.

A small hologram-style computer dialog box appeared in front of me.

 **Welcome to**

 **\- Terraverse -**

 **The ultimate fusion of real and fictional (R).**

 **You have elected to beta-test this brand new technology, and have been transported into the Terran Crux Realm.**

 **Due to the expansive and hyperreactive nature of the Realms, you shall make a blind choice of which Base Realm you will enter first.**

 **You have been given** (I turned around to look in the direction the nav arrow it provided) **a Hammerspace Satchel (Name is crowdsourced and randomly chosen on creation of data save).** (There was a small beige satchel on the ground, around the size of a small laptop. Having left my own satchel back home, I picked the new one up and tried it on. It fit very well.) **This serves as your inventory access point, inside which you will store all the odds and ends you will find on your adventures.**

I thought I heard a small voice (Not unlike that of Oliver Twist and Matt Smith combined) narrating the box to me. Turning around, I saw that the holobox was being projected from a small, bronzen sphere, with a lens at the front projecting the hologram. Think of it like a bronze-coloured Golden Snitch with the detailing of YYZ Imports' Electric Avenue watch and the lens of The Room's Null Element Eyepiece.

 **This message, if all is well on our end, will show upon discovering your Companion Server Link. This little sprite (Term may not be accurate, texture is chosen from presets based on user's pre-game likes/dislikes) will accompany you on your adventure, and take care of system functions, such as Quest Log, Inventory Contents, and Equip.**

Well, that was sincerely nice: My own little Navi. The little Companion Link looked like something out of a steampunk movie or video game, although…

… Did I like them…?

On that note…

… Who the hell was I…?

The first truly scary idea I confronted…

… was that I couldn't remember.

I racked my brain for any clue as to my identity, but found nothing. Facts, trivia, sure, I had those in generous supply, but there was nothing to distinguish me from the planet itself. I closed my eyes, rubbed my temples, searched again and again, but found nothing. I started to panic. If a man was the sum of his memories, as the Fifth Doctor once said, then I wasn't a man, or human, to use the gender-neutral terminology. But I was clearly here, and clearly sentient, so if I wasn't human, what was I?

I shook my head, forcing the thoughts from my mind (Or at least, I tried. They stuck at the edges, threatening to invade). I was definitely human. I was just suffering from a bout of forced amnesia (Or maybe even regular amnesia).

But the fact that I was more or less inside a video game remained.

 **It seems that you can't remember who you are. Don't panic. You can think up a new name here.**

 **\- Type (or say) your name. -** (A string-input box and keyboard floated under this.)

I stalled for a bit before my brain kicked into gear. Was this intentional? In any case, I thought, driving out the paranoia, and thought hard. Simon seemed a good name to have. But why have a given name with no family name? I could literally pop up anywhere, so a family name would be a good thing to have. It should be something simple, obvious, archaic-sounding, and easy to remember.

A second holobox appeared to the left of the main one. A progress bar appeared at the top, filled, and loaded in-

Google Translate.

I couldn't help but laugh at the computer's sense of timing and choice of translator. I flipped through Google Translate a while, before finally giving up and choosing a name that had little to no relevance to the guidelines I'd set for myself earlier, but still sounded cool.

Alabaster Dresden.

It didn't really go well with the blue hoodie, green Legend of Zelda T-shirt and brown Abercrombie chinos I was wearing, but it was a name unlike any other, one that was truly mine.

I entered in the name into the dialog box.

 **Hello, Alabaster! Today, you start your adventure in Terraverse. You are probably confused with what's going on. Just keep calm, carry on, and listen to this tutorial.**

Ah, joy, a tutorial. Although it may seem like a noob's decision, going through the tutorial could open the jar on mechanics and features that I'd otherwise miss.

 **First off are the controls. As you may have guessed, there's no joysticks or WASD here: Just move and look around as you would in the real world.**

 **Questline Added: Tutorial**

 **Quest complete: Tutorial I: +100 XP**

 **Level Up!**

I hummphed at the insta-completed quest. Was this due to my previous circumspecting? I shook my head, looking to a new dialog box.

 **Now you know how to navigate Terraverse! As you could see, there's quests here. Before we elaborate, do you want to use speech, gestures, or your Server Link (both) to open the various menus and use skills? (Choose one.)**

 **( ) Speech**

 **( ) Gesturing**

 **( ) Server Link**

I checked the Server Link box, before turning to said Link. "Will..." I paused, getting used to talking after the good 12 hours it felt like my voice was out-of-use for. "Will I be able to change this later if I want to?"

"Yes," was the Server Link's reply.

I continued with my choice, and read the next dialog box.

 **Now that you've established a menu-opening system, let's see what quests you have active.**

 **Say "Quest Log" or "Journal" on their own, in a sentence, or as a mimed action to see what you have in your Quest Log.**

"Alright, then... Let's see my quest log."

* * *

 **Quest Log**

 **\- Completed -**

 **Tutorial I**

 **\- In Progress -**

 **Tutorial II: 100 XP**

 **\- On Deck -**

 **Tutorial III**

 **\- Tracked Quest -**

 **Tutorial II**

 **[X] Open the Quest Log**

 **[ ] Open the Inventory/Character Menu**

 **[ ] Open the Server Link Menu**

* * *

I looked over the format of the Quest Log, and slashed my hand through the window, closing it.

 **Having quests and objectives is all well and good, but you'll need to know the ins and outs of being in an RPG to progress.**

 **Say "Inventory" or "Character" on their own, in a sentence, or as a mimed action to see what you have in your Inventory.**

"Open my Inventory," I told the Server Link sprite. A non-list-esque window opened in front of me, displaying an equip menu similar to most RPGs, alongside a graphical menu for my Hammerspace Satchel and its... well... hammerspace, and my different unlocked skills.

* * *

Inventory

\- Stats -

ATK: 20

M-ATK: 10

DEF: 10

M-DEF: 10

HP: 500

MS: 250

SPD: 8.5

\- Character -

Class: None (Heh...)

Level: 2 (0/200 XP)

Inventory: Hammerspace Satchel L1 (5 m3, 3 kg)

Title: -

Available Titles:

Titular Character: Gain 10 Titles.

Intelligence Officer: Observe 500 different things.

Monster Slayer: Kill a monster.

Paladin: Equip a Melée Weapon.

Wahzerd: Equip a Magic Weapon.

Ranger: Equip a Ranged Weapon.

World Walker: Choose a Realm.

Is This a Horror Movie?: [Conditions Hidden]

Noob: [Conditions hidden]

\- Equipment -

Head: -

L Arm: - | Torso: Hoodie | R Arm: -

L Hand M: - | Belt: - | R Hand M: -

L Hand R: - | Legs: Pants | R Hand R: -

Feet: Boots

Rings: - / - / -

Amulets: Watch / -

Accessories: - / - / - / - / -

\- Skills - 1 Unspent Point -

Punch - L2 - Basic unarmed Melée attack. Also raises ATK (+5 per level in Punch). Will adjust starting level based on user's pre-save proficiency.

Observe - L1 - Basic intelligence skill. Shows names, levels, HP, alignment, and Titles of observed entity, or stats/tooltips on observed items.

Sapient - LXX - Levelless growth skill. Creates new skills from new techniques.

\- Inventory -

Money: 0?

Initiate's Short Sword - +5 DMG / CQC / TI

Initiate's Crossbow - +5 DMG / Ranged / TI

I goggled at the wealth of stats available to me right away. "... What..."

 **This is your Inventory. It shows your stats, Titles, current and available items, and skill list. Your Hammerspace Satchel is not directly linked to your Inventory, so small objects can still be put inside it. The capacity is divided into two categories: Volume and Weight. If Volume is maxed out, you cannot put any more items into the Satchel. If Weight is maxed out, you will receive a dexterity- and stamina-based penalty until the carry weight is at or below the max.**

 **Since you've earned a Skill Point already, try levelling up a Skill to use later.**

I unceremoniously dumped the point into Observe.

 **Being well-prepared is key to any hunting expedition or dungeon raid. To equip an item, drag it into your matching Equipment slot.**

I plucked the Short Sword and Crossbow item cards from their slots and drag-and-dropped them in the R Hand slots in the M and R weapon sets in my Inventory. Surely enough, I felt a crossbow and a gladius-type short sword appear at my belt (or equivalent area, as I wasn't wearing a belt.)

 **Title Unlocked: Paladin: x2 DMG using Melee weapons.**

 **Title Unlocked: Ranger: x2 DMG using Ranged weapons.**

 **Good! Using these mechanics, you can build any character type you want in Terraverse.**

 **Terraverse has some unique mechanics, owing to the diverse nature of the world.**

 **Say "Server Link" or "Settings" on their own, in a sentence, or as a mimed action to open the Server Link options menu.**

"Settings," I said with as must lustre as I could muster (Which wasn't much).

* * *

 **Server Link Menu**

 **Player: Alabaster Dresden**

 **Realm: Crux**

 **Server Link Name: - = Change**

 **Server Link Texture: Steampunk = Change**

 **World Player Ranking: N/A**

 **(Fast Travel)**

 **Alignment: Undecided**

* * *

 **This is your Server Link menu. Through this, you will be able to customize your Server Link, Fast Travel outside of combat, and check your World Player Ranking, Realm, and Alignment.**

Wow... This game is... well-thought-out. I'd leave the rest of the judgement for the future.

 **Players will align with various factions within realms, and they may find themselves battling it out for supremacy. Your job will be to protect your faction, and help it secure the realm.**

 **Quest Complete: Tutorial II: +100 XP**

 **Now, go, young hero, and begin your adventure!**

[Play Music: Palace of Earth - Ura Zelda OST]

The roughly ten or twenty doors lining the walls around me opened up, each showing a blinding light. Turning to my Server Link for any kind of guidance (Silence on his end), I turned around, trying to see if there was anything behind the blinding light at the doors.

Nothing.

At least, nothing I could see.

At long last and in near-complete silence, I stepped through one of the doors...

... and began my adventure as Alabaster Dresden.

 **Title Unlocked: World Walker: +1 bonus to Meta Knowledge rolls.**

 **Quest Complete: Tutorial III: +100 XP**

 **Level Up!**

* * *

My first sensation was that of wind.

Wind coming from below me.

Which also happened to be forwards.

Which also meant I was falling.

After surprising myself with how level-headed I was at free falling at night, I passed through a storm cloud as I fell, revealing a massive castle in the distance and an expansive forest below.

I fell with the rain, eventually coming to a softer-than-physics-said-it-should-be landing.

Taking absolutely no damage as I hit the ground with no small amount of pain.

I got up, dusted myself off (Or would it be mudded?) and took a look at my new surroundings.

I was in the middle of a forest. It was dark, stormy, and the moon was high in the sky, showing its full face tonight.

I pulled up my inventory.

* * *

 **Inventory**

 **\- Stats -**

 **ATK: 25**

 **M-ATK: 10**

 **R-ATK: 15**

 **DEF: 10**

 **M-DEF: 10**

 **HP: 550**

 **MS: 500**

 **SPD: 8.5**

 **\- Character -**

 **Class: None (Heh...)**

 **Level: 3 (0/400 XP)**

 **Inventory: Hammerspace Satchel L1 (5 m3, 3 kg)**

 **Title: -**

 **Unlocked Titles:**

 **Paladin: x2 Melée DMG**

 **Ranger: x2 Ranged DMG**

 **World Walker: +1 Bonus to Meta Knowledge Rolls**

 **Available Titles:**

 **Titular Character: Gain 10 Titles.**

 **Intelligence Officer: Observe 500 different things.**

 **Monster Slayer: Kill a monster.**

 **Wahzerd: Equip a Magic Weapon.**

 **Is This a Horror Movie?: [Conditions Hidden]**

 **Noob: [Conditions hidden]**

 **\- Equipment -**

 **Head: -**

 **L Arm: - | Torso: Hoodie | R Arm: -**

 **L Hand M: - | Belt: - | R Hand M: Initiate's Short Sword**

 **L Hand R: - | Legs: Pants | R Hand R: Initiate's Crossbow**

 **Feet: Boots**

 **Rings: - / - / -**

 **Amulets: Watch / -**

 **Accessories: - / - / - / - / -**

 **\- Skills - 1 Unspent Point -**

 **Punch - L2 - Basic unarmed Melée attack. Will adjust starting level based on user's pre-save proficiency.**

 **Observe - L2 - Basic intelligence skill. Shows names, levels, HP, alignment, and Titles of observed entity, or stats/tooltips on observed items.**

 **Sapient - LXX - Levelless growth skill. Creates new skills from new techniques.**

 **\- Inventory -**

 **Initiate's Short Sword - +5 DMG / CQC / TI**

 **Initiate's Crossbow - +5 DMG / Ranged / TI**

* * *

I saw that I now had Titles to choose. I selected World Walker, and once again put my unspent Skill Point into Observe, closing the window after doing so.

I looked into the distance, where the castle stood, somewhat menacing.

A soft rustle echoed from the bushes behind me, and I drew my sword halfway out, turning, before realizing that it was just the wind.

Of course, then I turned back around and got a faceful of spider.

[Play Music: Time for a 187: Stranger Things OST]

Grappling with it as I felt my HP go down a bit, I threw it off of my face and back onto the ground where it belonged.

 **New Skill Created: Grapple**

"The hell is that?!" I addressed my Server Link.

"It's clearly a giant spider."

"I MEANT USE OBSERVE!"

 **Forest Spider - LVL 30 - 1500 HP**

 **ATK: 35**

 **DEF: 55**

"Level 30s? Now? FREAKING NOW?!"

"Well, you DID choose to land in a dangerous area."

"I DON'T HAVE WINGS!"

I drew my crossbow as the spider flipped over from its back. Taking aim, I tried not to think about the pop-up window that had appeared a few seconds ago. I shot the spider a few times as I speedloaded, probably running the low-capacity magazine dry.

Seeing as that didn't kill the monster, I turned for the castle (It was lit up like a lighthouse in this weather) and bolted.

I heard the spider run behind me, intent on finishing our duel. Keeping an eye on where I was going, I checked the popup that had appeared.

 **You have alerted the Spider Den. Take caution in what you do next.**

"Oh, come on..." I panted-

as I promptly ran into a tree.

 **Title Unlocked: Is This A Horror Movie? - x2 SPD when fleeing from a higher-level monster.**

 **Title Unlocked: Noob - x2 XP gain from monster slaying.**

"Oww..." I cringed as I clutched the centre of my face, my nose feeling especially painful.

The spider raced out of the bushes behind me, jumped-

And was shot out of the air by a crossbow bolt.

I looked around, fearful, as I hadn't reloaded my crossbow yet, so the bolt hadn't been because of me.

I questioned no more as a giant man came crunching out of the underbrush, (significantly larger) crossbow in hand, sending the spider skittering into the underbrush.

"What d'yeh think yer doing?" he said, scowling at me and my Server Link. "Aragog's not the friendliest Acromantula teh mess wit' if yer gettin' into scuffles wit' his family and all tha'."

"Oh… well, I'd best get out of here, then. You wouldn't mind taking me to safety, would you?"

"Not at all. An' how come yer armed teh the teeth? Not tha' it's not a good thing teh be, this forest's a deathtrap fer the unwary, but it's as if yer trying to wage war against a Peruvian Vipertooth or summat."

"It's a long story."

"Sounds alrigh' ter me. Come on, then! I'll take ye to my house."

The giant helped me up, and led me off down a small game-trail type path. We had been walking for about a minute before he spoke again.

"Arh, where're my manners? The name's Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid."

I blinked. It wasn't every day you had introductions with a Harry Potter character. "Well-met, Hagrid. My name's Alabaster. Alabaster Dresden."

"And what would a lad like you be doin' in a place like this? Ye've clearly got some skill with tha' sword, but the Forest is still no place to be at nigh'."

"Mis-apparition. I'd just like to get to safety, I can sort myself out from there."

"Well, can' really argue wit' tha'. Come on, then! Let's get you outta here."

We walked in silence for a few more minutes, at which point we emerged from the forest and into view of Hogwarts, and entered Hagrid's hut, a welcome proposal compared to the cold, dark and rain.

Hagrid made some tea and rock cakes, which I gratefully accepted, drinking the tea against the cold, and stashing some rock cakes in my inventory (Seriously, a 25-DMG throwable!) We chatted for a while, but eventually I decided to not keep Hagrid up any longer (My watch read as passing midnight), and I left for the castle, time and the tea having mostly healed me. I opened the doors, shaking off the (relatively small amount of) rain that had gathered on my hoodie.

I stepped into the empty Hogwarts Entrance Hall, and looked around. Torches burned softly in their sconces, and stone steps led up to the Great Stairwell and the various living, office, and educational rooms and quarters beyond.

I closed the great oak door, which creaked as the iron latch clanked shut.

An old man carrying a lantern walked down the rear stairs and into the hall, an old calico cat at his heels.

"You're not one o' the staff," the old man said, leering at me as he approached the doors with the cat, "so who are you, and what business do you have here?"

"I'm Alabaster Dresden, nice to meet you," I said, extending a hand to the old man, which he didn't shake, leading to its withdrawal, "I was hoping for a bit of shelter against the elements tonight."

"You'll be getting no shelter tonight, lad," the old man said, smirking evilly, and showing me the exact state of decomposition of some of his teeth. "You'll be coming with me... I've got a pair of ankle chains in my office for moments like these..."

"That will not be necessary, Argus," another old man said, popping up on the staircase back. "After all, we do not yet know if this young man has done any punishment-worthy deeds."

Purple space-themed robe, reading glasses shaped like semicircles, wise words and wording... Yep, definitely Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry for intruding on you at such a late hour, sir," I said, addressing Dumbledore as he walked down the stairs, "but I was hoping for a bit of shelter and a map… and as I somehow get the feeling you'd either figure this out or otherwise find it out on your own: I fell out of the sky a while ago, and made my way here through the forest. I would have died if Hagrid hadn't found me."

"I see you have met our groundskeeper, then."

"Yes, I ha- Hold on. You're not fazed at all by the fact that I openly admitted to falling out of the sky?"

"I am utterly surprised."

I fell silent for a second there. Dumbledore was a freaking Stoic.

"Well, is there somewhere I could stay?"

"I do believe the hospital wing has plenty of empty beds, happily. As for a map, I believe Argus has one you can use."

I nodded and bowed a bit. "Thank you, sir. I promise I won't get in your hair or anything."

As Dumbledore left to get this affair sorted out, I gestured to Filch to lead on. He started off, but as I took a step after him, I was distracted by Mrs. Norris (The cat) dragging a little metal ball by its wing, the life completely gone from its lens.

I approached Mrs. Norris from behind as she glanced sullenly at me, saying nothing yet not dropping the Server Link.

As we walked, I kept an eye on Mrs. Norris, and she kept an eye on me. When we got to Filch's office, the caretaker turned on me.

"What I'm goin' to show you is contraband of the utmost... contrabandiness. Mark my words, boy, if it leaves my office, you'll have hell to pay."

He opened the door and we went inside. Mrs. Norris carried the Server Link up onto Filch's desk, where I promptly picked the broken contraption back up and stowed it in my Satchel.

I looked back up as Filch put a blank piece of parchment paper into my hands.

"Confiscated from a couple of troublemakers years back. It's apparently a map of some sort, but none of us know how to use it."

I examined the multipanelled paper tapestry meticulously, feigning ignorance. Could this be...?

"Alright, that's enough. Don't get any ideas," Filch said, taking the parchment from my hands.

I blinked as I tried to memorize what I saw with the aid of any software that remained open to me.

Filch and I left his office, and I ducked out using directions to the Hospital Wing.

I walked through the hallways, trying to locate some sort of signage that would help me navigate. Eventually, after at least ten minutes of wandering, lost, I found the Hospital Wing. I opened the door, and stepped in, looking around.

It was furnished just like one would expect it to be furnished, with beds and nighttables lining the room. A few privacy screens were lined up on one wall to the left of the door, and a row of cabinets labelled "Medicine" and "Ingredients" hung on the other wall. One of the nighttables had a note on it, addressed in my name. I picked it up and opened it.

 _Mr. Alabaster Dresden_

 _This bed will be yours until you leave the castle, relocate, or the bed becomes needed by someone who needs it more, whichever comes first._

I sighed and sat down on the indicated bed. The mattress was one of those kinds you have at camp: Small, somewhat squishy, and thin. Two layers of sheets made up for whatever the mattress lacked.

Flopping over, I pulled the Server Link from my Satchel. I looked it over to see exactly what was wrong, but all I could see were a few holes in the wings and a few cracks in the lens. Shaking it gently produced a rattling sound.

I turned over the problem in my head. Rowling's magic could definitely fix this, as Reparo was displayed in the trailers for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them fixing far larger objects, but the use of magic was some kind of genetic ability, and I wasn't sure if I could use it. I had no other option, though.

Well, here went nothing.

Looking around to make sure that I wasn't being watched by anybody, I looked at the Server Link and wondered how to start it. Placing it on the nighttable, I raised both hands in a sort of Doctor Strange-esque gesture. I moved my left hand over, then drew it back as my right hand waved to my left, and then my right, all in the space of time I said these words in:

"Tempum revoco,

vulnos sano,

res reparo!"

It was somewhat more verbose than what Rowling had, but it would work should her magic system hold up. A second passed. I opened my eyes, and saw an amazing sight.

The Server Link was repairing itself, due to my usage of Rowling's magic.

I looked down at my hands, amazed, as the Server Link started flying again and I synced up with the server.

 **New Fast Travel Point: Hogwarts - Entrance Hall**

 **New Fast Travel Point: Hogwarts - Hospital Wing**

 **New Region Map: Hogwarts Castle Grounds**

 **New Skill: Words of Power (Latin, Rowling) - L1 - Utility- and combat-focused ways to change the world around the caster, Words of Power has different effects depending on the active word set and the words used. This word set is mostly Latin-based, and some words for specific effects are defined by J.K. Rowling (Your Server Link can provide a dictionary as you discover words and invent your own).**

 **It seems you have discovered your first fast-travel point! Fast-travelling, like in most other RPGs, is used as the name suggests: To get somewhere quickly. The menu for this can be found in your Server Link menu, where you can choose your destination and hit the button when you're ready to go!**

 **Congratulations, you've discovered a map of your surroundings! Depending on which Realm you're in, this message will appear either when you land or when you get your hands on a map. Your Server Link will, at your behest, project a minimap with landmarks 24/7.**

 **Do you wish to always project a minimap?**

 **\- Yes**

 **\- No**

I stared at the sudden overload of information dumped on me, and tried to remember where everything was... would be... whatever. I also started the holographic minimap projection, and took a look at where everything was in the castle. Since the map I'd seen had been the Marauders' Map, I also had the option of upkeeping little arrows showing where everyone in the castle - myself included - were (For the sake of not wanting to know, I chose to leave it off for everyone except me). I also started an HP and MS projection, which was pretty self-explanatory. I also gave my Server Link a name, so I wouldn't have to refer to it as just a "Server Link" all the time: Dominic.

The final development before I turned in at what my watch said was half past 1 AM was a surprise, but not entirely unexpected considering how I fixed up Dominic. Of course, it was still enough to bring some warm fuzzies, slipped underneath the door or not. Dominic tried reading it for me, but I shushed him along with some words to not do it again "or Mrs. Norris finds out how bronze tastes".

* * *

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Dresden,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await word by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

* * *

My head hit the pillow with a huge grin on my face.

"I'm a Wizard, Dominic," I whispered, feeling sleep finally take over.

* * *

Firstly, thank you for reading through all of the 5000 words that this chapter has! It is, by far, the longest chapter I've ever done for Fanfic Net.

Second, please comment on how well you think I dipped into the Wizarding World. It means a lot to me if anyone reading this (or any of my stories, for that matter) would favourite this, follow me, or any combination of the four verbs and pronouns.

I WILL be doing an outside-universe care-package system, so message me if you have any suggestions for anything in the future.

As always, stay tuned, and see you next DLC on:

Magic EXE: The Video Game

Edit, Jul 10 2018: I've redid the dialogue a bit, from a few reviews about improving it.


	2. Chapter 2

I walked into Diagon Alley, minimap soon-to-be-filled. I checked my money counter (Generously filled due to the deaths of ten Chameleon Ghoul armour suits back at Hogwarts), and cross-checked it with my equipment list.

 **Quest Added: Off to Be a Wizard (I)**

 **[ ] Purchase Work Robes (0/3)**

 **[ ] Purchase Pointy Wizard Hat**

 **[ ] Purchase Protective Gloves**

 **[ ] Purchase Cloak**

I took a deep breath, bringing my minimap into the cluster of windows. Right now, it was like an RPG-style satellite map, displaying the real-life look of areas I had explored and unveiling new ones as I walked.

Speaking of walking, I set out towards the shop whose sign identified it as Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, wending my way through a dense, large late-summer crowd. After all, if I have a list of stuff to get and about a week and a half to get it in, why not just do the list from top to bottom?

I entered the robe shop, which produced the tiny tinkling of an entry/exit bell. I walked up to the counter, where I was greeted by a witch about a head shorter than I was, and about twice as large, dressed all in crimson and looking very merry.

"Hello, there! Hogwarts?" she said, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"Yes, actually," I said, unable to come up with a fleshed-out reply.

"Why don't you come back with me then, I'll get you and the other two suited up."

I followed her back into the fitting room, where two _extremely_ familiar eleven-year-olds were being fitted as well.

"... Then I'll drag them off to look at racing brooms. I can't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and then I'll smuggle it in somehow," the blonde one said. He had the air of one who didn't really want to be here and couldn't wait to get out. He even sounded like a stereotypical snotty rich kid.

Although, to be honest, what more could you expect from Draco Malfoy?

Madam Malkin had me step up onto a stool as she drew her wand and started measuring my clothing sizes while picking out a robe in my size. I turned to the black-haired boy on the stool next to me as Madam Malkin held up various different size combinations.

"So... How's your day going?"

Harry seemed surprised that someone was addressing him with something other than a complaint, unanswerable question, or insult. "Oh... It's going well, I suppose. I just learned about magic yesterday. What about you?"

"I'm good. After I fe-"

"I say! Look at that man!" Draco shouted out of the blue.

Sure enough, outside the window was Hagrid, standing outside and waving to Harry. He had two ice cream cones, and was pointing at them as a gesture of why he had to stay outside.

"That's Hagrid," Harry said. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh, I've heard of him," Draco said, sniffing slightly. "He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the groundskeeper," I rebutted. "I met him when I landed a few weeks ago. He led me to Hogwarts, and I've been staying there ever since."

"Oh? You flew in by broom from somewhere like Ireland?" Draco quipped. Seriously, I'd be happy if he just shut up when a conversation started to close. His voice was the kind that just gets into your ears and drives you nuts after thirty seconds.

"... Not exactly. It's a long story," I said, wanting to just be done with this now.

"That's you done, my dear," Madam Malkin said to Harry; she'd switched between us halfway through. Harry practically leapt off the stool to pay for his robes and get out.

"So, who are you?" Draco asked me in that wheedling voice of his.

"Alabaster."

"And you're going to Hogwarts as well? What house do you think you'll be in?"

"Yes, and I don't know."

"And you flew in? Where from?"

"It's a long story." I _really_ didn't like this kid, sighing as Madam Malkin double-checked each robe measurement.

"What's wizarding like where you come from? Do they flirt with Muggles? Do they support anti-Muggle separatist movements?"

"Wizarding...?" I said. "Nonexistent."

"Oh, cool, that kind of-" Draco stopped as he realized _which_ question I answered. "...What's your surname?"

"Dresden."

"That's it... Why you're so scared of me," Malfoy finished, reading my emotions incorrectly. "You're a filthy Mudblood who needs to be taught a few manners on who's his superior."

Aside from Madam Malkin's gasp of shock, the fitting room fell silent.

"... And you're an obnoxious prick who can't think twice before embarrassing yourself in public. I do believe your father knows a thing or two about rhetoric and honour he can teach you."

As Madam Malkin finished up and nodded to me to come to the front, I stepped off of the stool and taunted Malfoy as I left the room.

"That's five Sickles, please," Madam Malkin said. Without saying anything, I pulled out five silver coins from my Inventory and handed them to her. She pulled a bundle of three robes, a set of reptile-skin gloves, a black cloak, and a pointy black wizard hat from underneath the counter, and handed them to me. I put on the pointy hat and stashed the rest in my Inventory.

"Oh, and Mr. Dresden," she said as I approached the door, "Thank you, and goodbye."

"It's no problem, Miss," I said, smiling and waving.

I entered the street, looking around for the next shop.

 **Quest Complete: Off to Be a Wizard (I): +100 XP**

 **Quest Added: Off to Be a Wizard (II)**

 **[ ] Purchase The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)**

 **[ ] Purchase History of Magic**

 **[ ] Purchase Magical Theory**

 **[ ] Purchase A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration**

 **[ ] Purchase One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi**

 **[ ] Purchase Magical Drafts and Potions**

 **[ ] Purchase Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them**

 **[ ] Purchase The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection**

I checked around the minimap and looked at all the nearby signs for a bookstore. I was doing my third or fourth run when Dominic nudged me.

I looked at the minimap again at his behest, pressing a hand to my forehead in what is commonly known as a _facepalm_ as I saw the Flourish  & Blotts Bookstore waypoint on the map, right across the street.

I walked into the bookshop, gazing around in wonder as I took the first few steps in. Books lined the shelves on the two floors, and more were littered across tables in an attempt to create a display with the sheer amount of books that wouldn't fit onto the shelves.

I walked around the bookstore, browsing the shelves for books that I needed and books I might read in the future.

Having gotten bored at staring at the cover of a bazillion and one Gilderoy Lockhart autobiographies, I gathered my books and checked out.

Another eight Sickles down the drain.

Still, it was for Hogwarts. I still had a bit of money left as well, so it wasn't THAT bad.

 **Quest Complete: Off to Be a Wizard (II): +100 XP**

 **Quest Added: Off to Be a Wizard (III)**

 **[ ] Purchase Wand or Equivalent**

 **[ ] Purchase Cauldron (Pewter, Size 2)**

 **[ ] Purchase Glass/Crystal Vials**

 **[ ] Purchase Telescope**

 **[ ] Purchase Brass Scales**

I studied the popup window, one hand on my chin. I could get most of these at any Muggle shop that sold the stuff. To complete the quest, I'd probably have to get the specific materials, but I could always sub them out for their (in my opinion) superior Muggle counterparts afterwards.

I headed to Ollivander's next, to get myself a WAND!

The wand shop was dim and somewhat dusty, and ceiling-height shelves were stacked to the brim with wand boxes. A couple electric lamps flickered on the desk and above the door, but altogether didn't lend much to the lighting situation.

A murky, calm silence pervaded the shop, as if the hustle and bustle of the Alley outside couldn't reach this sanctum sanctorum. I hummed the Clock Town theme from Legend of Zelda, and stood to one side, leaning against a shelf leg.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," an old man said, seemingly popping out from nowhere behind the front desk. "The shelves can't hold much else past all those wands."

Not wanting to knock anything over, I righted myself and fell silent.

"Oh, it's quite all right, Mr. Dresden. After all, you're so new to this world after spending so long in your old one."

I started, surprised. Ollivander knew?

Well, of course Ollivander knew. He's Ollivander. He knows everything there is to know about someone, and has an uncanny sense of time and a mind like a steel trap.

"Heh. Sorry. So..."

"You're here for your wand, yes, as Mr. Potter will be soon. Come here, into the light."

I stepped into the small circle of illumination provided by the globe lamp on Ollivander's desk. Ollivander started measuring every anatomical measurement and ratio on my body (save _that_ one) with a magical self-measuring tape. I watched Ollivander consult various notes and figures in his head, the light from the lamp flashing off of his stormy eyes.

"Which arm is your wand arm?" he asked me.

"I'd say my right. I usually favour it when waving stuff around."

Ollivander had me hold out my arm, at which point the measuring tape did a second round of arm, hand and shoulder measurements.

"Each and every wand made in these walls, Mr. Dresden, contains a powerful magical substance at its core. There are only three cores which you will find here: The tail feather of a phoenix, the mane or tail hair of a unicorn, or the heartstring of a dragon. As no two dragons, phoenixes, or unicorns are precisely the same, neither are any two Ollivander wands, nor are any two wizards. As such, any magic done with another wizard's wand will never be quite as good as with your own."

I nodded to show understanding as Ollivander dismissed the tape measure and pulled a wand box from the wall.

"Try this. A wand of larch wood, twelve and one-quarter inches long. The core is that of unicorn hair, and you will find it very rigid and invariable. Just wave it like so," Ollivander said, miming a stereotypical magic-wand wave. I had only just pulled back to make the move when he decided against it and withdrew the wand.

He reboxed the wand and went over to another shelf, selecting another wand box and pulling it out from the rows, opening it at the front desk.

"Hmm... I don't suppose you'll object to this one? It's a willow and phoenix-feather wand, nine and one-quarter inches, nice and flexible."

I was on the outswing this time when Ollivander stopped me. Making some _real_ progress here, we were.

"No, no, that's not it, either," he said, retrieving more wands from the depths of the storehouse. Again and again, they weren't just the right fit, and I ended up having a small piled of wand boxes on the desk in the discard pile. Eventually, we made some major headway when the stack had reached 5x5. Ollivander walked up to me with the 26th box, reading the label.

"Why don't you take a look at this one: Dogwood, seven and three-quarter inches long; a bit on the short side. The core is that of phoenix tail feather, and the wand is very flexible."

I took the wand with care and waved it a bit. Seemingly satisfied, Ollivander instructed me on summoning the sliding ladder towards me. I had only just started the word "Accio" when Ollivander snatched the wand away.

[Play Music: Ollivander's - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone OST]

"Not this one, no, not this... But I feel we're close... I wonder... What about this one? Dogwood and phoenix tail feather once more, but it is thirteen inches long, and a bit bendy but not overly so."

I only had to take the wand in my hand when I felt I was being watched. Gingerly taking the wand, I held it up to the light. I looked around, to see if anyone was actually watching, but no-one was there. I then looked down at the wand... and felt it looking back at me. I raised it, and a bronze light gathered at the tip, fully lighting the whole shop. I flicked it at the ladder, and the light lashed out and attached itself to the ladder.

"Teneo!" I shouted, feeling very excited at the prospect of having a wand. I pulled the wand back over my shoulder and shouted "Accio!", effortlessly sliding the ladder towards me. I brought the wand - _my_ wand - back down, and smiled.

"It's perfect," I said.

"It should be, Mr. Dresden. After all, it's the wand that chooses the wizard," Ollivander said, smiling. "And it's curious, too. That wand, out of all of my wands, is one of the most nondescript, and yet it is one of the most vocal when it doesn't like the wizard I try to pair with it. Most owners of dogwood wands, I've noticed, are fairly noisy, yet you don't strike me as such. To think that it chose you... There's certainly more to you than meets the eye."

"I'm not sure whether to thank you for the wand or for that comment as well," I said, shelling out the five Sickles for a wand.

I walked out of the shop, wand already equipped (read: "stuffed into pocket"). I walked towards Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, checking my money coun-

* * *

 **Inventory**

 **\- Stats -**

 **ATK: 25**

 **M-ATK: 10**

 **R-ATK: 15**

 **DEF: 10**

 **M-DEF: 10**

 **HP: 550**

 **MS: 500**

 **SPD: 8.5**

 **\- Character -**

 **Class: None (Heh...)**

 **Level: 4 (200/800 XP)**

 **Inventory: Hammerspace Satchel L1 (5 m3, 3 kg)**

 **Title: World Walker**

 **Unlocked Titles:**

 **Paladin: x2 Melée DMG**

 **Ranger: x2 Ranged DMG**

 **World Walker: +1 Bonus to Meta Knowledge Rolls**

 **Is This a Horror Movie?: x2 SPD when fleeing from a higher-level monster.**

 **Noob: x2 XP from monster slaying.**

 **Monster Slayer: x2 DMG.**

 **Wahzerd: Equip a Magic Weapon.**

 **Available Titles:**

 **Titular Character: Gain 10 Titles.**

 **Intelligence Officer: Observe 500 different things.**

 **\- Equipment -**

 **Head: Pointy Wizard Hat**

 **L Arm: - | Torso: Hoodie | R Arm: -**

 **L Hand M: - | Belt: - | R Hand M: Initiate's Short Sword**

 **L Hand R: Initiate's Crossbow | Legs: Pants | R Hand R: Wand**

 **Feet: Boots**

 **Rings: - / - / -**

 **Amulets: Watch / -**

 **Accessories: - / - / - / - / -**

 **\- Skills - 1 Unspent Point -**

 **Punch - L2 - Basic unarmed Melée attack. Will adjust starting level based on user's pre-save proficiency.**

 **Observe - L4 - Basic intelligence skill. Shows names, levels, HP, alignment, and Titles of observed entity, or stats/tooltips on observed items.**

 **Sapient - LXX - Levelless growth skill. Creates new skills from new techniques.**

 **Grapple - L1 - Mid-tier combat skill. Grabs opponent and makes continuous Strength checks to stay on top.**

 **Words of Power (Latin, Rowling) - L1 - Utility- and combat-focused ways to change the world around the caster, Words of Power has different effects depending on the active word set and the words used. This word set is Latin-based, and some words for specific effects are defined by J.K. Rowling.**

 **\- Inventory -**

 **Money: 14K / UK$0.14**

 **Initiate's Short Sword - +5 DMG / CQC / TI**

 **Initiate's Crossbow - +5 DMG / Ranged / TI**

 **Watch Necklace - Tells time, can reflect light / Amulet**

 **5x Iron Hunk - Crafting Item**

 **3x Rock Cake - 25 DMG / CQC / TII**

 **Pointy Wizard Hat - 15 M-DEF / Head / TI**

 **Dragonskin Gloves - +Immunity to Toxic Effects from Poking Stuff / L/R Hands, M**

 **3x Work Robes - 25 DEF / Torso-Legs / TI**

 **Cloak - 25 M-DEF / Accessory / TI**

 **8x Hogwarts Textbooks, 1st Year - Item Bundle  
** **Wand - +5 ATK / Ranged / TI**

* * *

 **Money: 14K / UK$0.14.**

Ohhhh. Well.

That put an end to that streak.

I thought about where I could get more money in Diagon Alley, short of robbing Gringotts.

I happened to glance to one side, and found a possible solution.

Semi-illegal gambling on duels against the shadier side of wizardry? Very, very risky, definitely not something I'd want to try.

A somewhat extensive knowledge of Latin that gave me an edge in combat? Definitely something I'd want to try.

And at this point?

I felt ballsy enough to do it.


	3. Chapter 3

**\- Knockturn Alley -**

[Play Music: Knockturn Alley - Harry Potter II OST]

Knockturn Alley was definitely dark... And dingy... and overall, sketchy. Definitely a place where one could find a duel. I passed by stores discreetly advertising (probably semi-illegal) wares on different single-use jinxes and hexes, that did really bad stuff to someone (Aquipello? Eviscero? I didn't and still _don't_ want to know. Unfortunately, I remembered enough Latin to decipher them.) I meandered around, avoiding unsavoury looks, before settling in front of a poster.

 _Remember those days when you were taught combat magic to defend from the nasty Death Eaters?_

 _Missing a bit of your edge?_

 _Come to Trimalchio's Duelling Club, 8 Knockturn Alley, and put a whetstone to your combat edge!_

I checked over my shoulder, and sure enough, there it was, a basement wizarding Fight Club.

* * *

 **\- Trimalchio's Duelling Club -**

The interior was dim. A group of wizards was surrounding a bunch of flashes and pops on one side of the room, the telltale signs of a duel, and cheering on both sides. A counter with a bored-looking witch behind it sat alone, amidst a sea of tables and chairs. I walked up to the witch, who looked up at me and yawned.

"'Ello. You new 'ere?"

I checked behind my shoulder, where the duel continued, then looked back at her. "Yeah. You take bets on who's gonna win?"

"Aye. The winner of the duel gets 50% of the lost bets. There are three rules about bein' 'ere though."

I nodded, prompting her to continue.

"You don't talk about this to the Ministry... You don't start a non-Club-sanctioned duel... and you must duel on your first time here." She counted out the rules on her fingers.

I glanced downwards, pensive. So I had to duel.

I turned to the crowds, and nudged my way to the front as the duel was won by a man in black and crimson robes, similar to those worn by Gandalf. He had a steely look on his face. He clearly knew what he was doing.

"Newcomer here," I said, addressing the crowd. "I'm fighting next duel. Place your bets."

The majority of the crowd dispersed over to the counter, presumably to bet against me (seeing as I was only 16 and looked nothing like an experienced wizard).

When everything was in order, the witch walked over to the centre of the duelling ring, marked out with a summoning-circle type mark.

"For the newcomer in our midst, these are the rules of the duel. The duel will go on until one combatant concedes, leaves the ring, or is rendered unable to continue. Unforgivable Curses are not permitted, and any duellist who uses them will automatically forfeit the duel. No maiming or killing, but disarmament and unconsciousness are okay. Ready?"

A dialog box popped up before me.

 **You have been challenged to a duel.**

 **(Rules: Trimalchio 1v1)**

 **Accept? (Y) (N)**

I tapped the "Yes" button, then drew my wand and braced myself as the countdown timer started. I drew my wand back over my shoulder, holding it between my thumb and middle finger, pointing my index finger along the wand.

The countdown timer hit zero as the witch said "Go!"

I started to bring my wand forward. "Expel-"

\- and was promptly spun end over end backwards and landed face down on the floor.

I wobbled back to my feet, feeling dizzy.

When my vision cleared, I checked my health bar.

Three-quarters of it remained.

As the wizard charged up for another attack, I reviewed my meagre spell library, settling on a short combat spell.

"Stupefy!"

The wizard stumbled back a bit on impact, shaking his head to clear it. I launched another, failing this time as he cast Protego. I missed the next few casts to Protego as well, and was caught by another spell after I let my guard down post-cast. I was afflicted by sudden inattentiveness, catching myself another one of the same spell used to flip me earlier.

 **Critical Hit!**

This time, however, I cast as I was getting back up, landing a Grappling Charm on his belt. He cast Protego to try and stop me, but the light Teneo marked a grapple with didn't falter, but rather caused energy sparks around it, presumably where it met the magical shield. Turning around, I whipped my wand towards the far wall, sending the wizard flying out of the ring and into the wall, making a dent in the wood and allowing small amounts of dirt to spill through. It was a credit to him that he got back up without much apparent damage.

The entire crowd gawked at me, muttering, as I turned to the ref, who was on her way back to the counter. She blinked a few times before coming back to the ring and raising my hand in victory, clearly dumbfounded at how a duel could end so quickly.

"The winner is..." She stopped. "What's your name?"

"Alabaster Dresden."

"Alabaster Dresden, newcomer to Trimalchio's, over Tarquin Septimus, former three-week champion."

The crowd remained relatively silent for a bit, before parting like the Red Sea on the way to the counter.

The witch turned to me once she had returned to her spot behind the counter.

"Total winnings... Seventy-five Galleons, twelve Sickles, and three Knuts."

I blinked. "... Could you please repeat that?"

"Seventy-five Galleons, twelve Sickles, and three Knuts."

I nodded, accepting the reward.

 **You have won the duel!**

 **Reward: 75G, 12S, 3K; +50 XP**

 **You have unlocked the third-level rank for: Teneo**

It was all well and good that the large sum of money I won was indeed large, but I was confused at the sight of Teneo. I filed a note in the back of my head to ask Dominic about it later. For now, though, I was approached by my opponent.

"What was that spell you used? It wasn't taught to me in my days at Hogwarts."

I glanced upwards, trying to determine whether I should cover it up. My decision made, I looked back to the wizard.

"I invented it myself. I'm actually surprised that I invented a spell, considering I just entered the Wizarding World, but it did its job. It's a Grappling Charm, that makes the rough magical equivalent of a rope or a grapple gun."

"A what?"

* * *

 **\- Knockturn Alley -**

"Dominic," I asked as I left Trimalchio's, "What's with Teneo being a separate skill? Wasn't it merged in with Rowling's Words of Power?"

"It's a new patch," Dominic said, answering my question. "The Words of Power no longer encompass user-defined methods."

"New?" I said, checking the...

 **Feb. 7, 2017**

... server clock...

One month and then some had passed.

One month... and then some.

"It's a bit of a quirk of Terraverse," Dominic said, "That time can be a bit jumpy."

"You call that... a _bit_ jumpy?" I asked, voice and face flat. "More like... _very_ jumpy-"

 **Mar 14, 2017**

"OH, COME ON!"

* * *

 **\- Diagon Alley -**

Crazy server-clock madness aside, I now had a lot of money to buy the rest of my supplies. Walking back out to Diagon Alley, I checked the quest list once more.

* * *

 **Quest Log**

 **\- Completed -**

 **Tutorial I**

 **Tutorial II**

 **Tutorial III**

 **Off to Be a Wizard (I)**

 **Off to Be a Wizard (II)**

 **\- In Progress -**

 **Off to Be a Wizard (III)**

 **\- On Deck -**

 **?**

 **\- Tracked Quest -**

 **Quest: Off to Be a Wizard (III)**

 **[X] Purchase Wand or Equivalent**

 **[ ] Purchase Cauldron (Pewter, Size 2)**

 **[ ] Purchase Glass/Crystal Vials**

 **[ ] Purchase Telescope**

 **[ ] Purchase Brass Scales**

* * *

Right! Right, I needed a cauldron.

I walked over to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, and checked out their stocks. There weren't only cauldrons, but wand holsters, glassware for potions, star charts and telescopes, weights and measures, quills, paper, and objects I couldn't even guess the purpose of. I bought a spyglass and a cauldron, plus a telescope, glassware set and brass scale and weights for good measure in the quest (About 50 galleons in all), and then headed to Gringotts to try to exchange Wizarding money for Muggle currency.

 **Quest Complete: Off to Be a Wizard (III):+100 XP**

After I got a bit lost in the lobby as everything looked identical, a goblin kindly (... not sure if that's the right word, maybe _impassively_...?) pointed me in the right direction to the currency exchange. Upon reaching that, I traded my 25 Galleons into British pounds. Upon collecting the over-100 pounds I received, I unequipped any wizard-y or MMORPG-y items I had on (Basically anything I'd collected on my way into the Wizarding world with the exception of the spyglass and the satchel) and left the Leaky Cauldron, stealthily entering Muggle London.

After navigating to the nearest convenience store (a map I bought along the way really helped), I managed to secure a boatload of pens. I chose three packs of the things and a couple of reams (the unit of measurement) of blank paper, before shoving two thirds of that into my Inventory, the rest into my satchel and moving on.

I stopped at a science shop, buying a small telescope, a Pyrex glassware set and a triple beam balance (emptying my Muggle wallet) before returning to the Wizarding world. Once there, I decided I needed a companion. Dominic was company enough under normal circumstances, but it didn't feel like he had a personality or anything, except maybe when he was snarking at my rage-y comments. Otherwise, he was silent.

I navigated to Magical Menagerie, taking in the sounds of various mundane and arcane animals upon entry. Heck, it even _smelled_ like a magical pet shop, which, to be fair, it was. Ducking to the side of a rather mid-sized crowd, I Observed various pets, skipping over Puffskeins, toads, and the like, before seeing the cats.

I felt something stir in my mind as I looked on, but it faded before I could catch it. Turning my attention outwards once more, I browsed around, before choosing a small black cat which looked rather frail, scared, and lonely. It had patches of hair missing in a couple places, and looked out of its box very apprehensively. It shied away as I raised my hand and poked a finger through the cat-sized entry into its box, eyes widening and tail puffing up, before it calmed down once it saw I wasn't going to hurt it.

I smiled, and took a look around the shop to see how things were done. I then grabbed the attention of one of the cashiers, who gladly came to help. She told me that the cat I wanted had arrived a couple of days ago, but apparently nobody had wanted her due to her unhealthy-looking, alley-cat demeanour. After buying the cat, naming her Graymalkin, and stocking up on cat supplies, I received a note from Dominic as I stepped outside, carrying the trembling cat.

 **You have acquired a familiar animal! Familiars, or pets as the slang says, are exactly what they say on the tin: Companion animals for Heroes. They have their own seperate Health bar equal to half of their Hero's HP, and can even have specialized equipment forged for them.**

Dismissing the note, I took a second to sit down and calm Graymalkin before giving her a bit of wiggle room, which she used to climb up my clothes and perch herself on my left shoulder, keeping an eye out for any attackers.

After getting used to her weight, I shopped around Diagon Alley some more, before ducking into a small nook and opening my Server Link menu, letting Graymalkin climb into my satchel, hiding in one o the pockets.

"What would you like to do?" Dominic said.

"Just warp me back to Hogwarts."

"Entrance Hall or Hospital Wing?"

"The Hospital Wing."

* * *

I spent the last while of the summer slaughtering monsters at Hogwarts (I got around 85 or 90), accumulating money and new weapons, and getting Graymalkin used to my presence, but remembered to warp to King's Cross Station (I'd passed through on the way to Diagon Alley) in order to take the Hogwarts Express. After all, sometimes the best way to experience travel is through the scenic routes.

 **\- King's Cross Station (Muggle Side) -**

Anyhow, I fiddled with my new Longsword's strap as I arrived in King's Cross, receiving weird looks from Muggle passersby but encountering no other problems, homeland security or otherwise.

Ah, the perks of being in an MMO.

I'd decided during the Chameleon Ghoul fights in the castle that having the conventional MMORPG HUD was rather annoying, and distracting when I was trying to do something in combat, so I'd moved my Health and Mana gauges to the inside of my right wrist, and dispelled the minimap altogether. Now, if I had to navigate I'd just summon a map, and if I needed a stamina once-over I merely needed to make the motion of checking my pulse. Graymalkin sat in my satchel, her tiny head poking out from the pockets. Even after 24 hours, she was already starting to look better. I scratched behind her ears for a bit as I walked over to Platforms 9 and 10, keeping an eye out for The Stereotypical Mythos Chosen One.

Ah, there he was.

He seemed as out-of-place as a shark in a museum.

... Actually, given the proper set of circumstances, that analogy was both incredibly accurate and terrible at the same time. After all, the Royal Ontario Museum has a few biological specimens.

... How did I know that?

Anyway, the Weasleys had found Harry (or rather, the other way around) and were showing him how to cross the barrier. I waited for them to finish before following The Boy Who Lived, emerging on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

 **\- Platform 9 3/4 -**

The station was built of red brick, with a ceiling stained greyish-black by smoke from the scarlet locomotive sitting just outside the terminal. A huge throng of people milled about on the platform, with teens of varying ages boarding the train. I waited for the crowd to thin as 11:00 AM local time approached, and boarded before the train left. As I had gotten on somewhere near the end of the train, I may my way forwards, looking for Harry and Ron's compartment.

Upon reaching the compartment, I slid open the door as the Weasley twins walked further up, conversing about a giant spider.

"Mind if I sit?" I said, to which Harry and Ron said no.

Sitting down beside Harry, I let out Graymalkin, who took one look around and promptly climbed up onto my shoulder, staring at Harry and Ron.

"You've got a cat?" Ron said, who protectively held a grey, lumpy thing away from Graymalkin, "Just keep it away from Scabbers." _God_ , was that _Scabbers_? Or Pettigrew? Or whatever the meta name for him was? He was more of a stress ball than a rat...

"Don't worry," I said, "I don't think she'll attack. Not if Scabbers doesn't, anyway. Her name's Graymalkin. Mine's Alabaster."

"Oh," Harry said, "Are you that guy from Madam Malkin's?"

"Yes," I said.

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you, Harry. And you are?" I said, turning to one Ronald Weasley.

"I'm Ron. Ron Weasley."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ron. I hope you don't mind me sitting here for the trip. Especially with all the weaponry."

Ron and Harry took a moment to actually look at my getup, eyes widening when they saw the short sword and crossbow. They quickly turned away, assuming with excellent common sense that I was dangerous, and returned to their previous conversation. It didn't really stray from canon that much, all things considered.

When the candy cart arrived, I bought myself a couple of Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes, totalling around three Sickles for six Frogs and five Cauldron Cakes.

Our conversation then lulled for a bit, as I munched a Chocolate Frog and gave Graymalkin some belly rubs. Things perked up again as Ron offered Harry and I some Every Flavour Beans. Harry accepted some, whereas I refused on the grounds of some bad experiences with them a while ago (Earthworm flavour, anyone?). Neville came by to ask about his toad, which was resolved with a simple "Accio Toad".

"Oh, you can do magic?" Ron asked, putting his furry stress ball, which promptly fell asleep, down on the pile of candy Harry had bought from the cart. "I tried to turn Scabbers yellow the other day, but the spell didn't work. Here, let me show you..." He pulled out a wand that was noticeably worse-for-wear, before remarking on its condition. He cleared his throat, raising his wand, when the compartment door opened again. Neville, with Hermione this time, poked his head in.

"Sorry to interrupt," Hermione said, "but Neville's lost his toad again. He referred to you-" (She nodded at me) "- as the one who found his toad last time. Oh, are you doing magic?" she said, seeing Ron's wand. "Let's see it then."

"Er... All right." Ron cleared his throat once more. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" Much to my unsurprise, nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione said. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said this with speed rivalling the Doctor or Pinkie Pie.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances. Clearly, they were floored. Ron answered Hermione's question first. "I'm Ron Weasley."

"I'm Alabaster Dresden. Pleasure to meet you, Hermione."

"Harry Potter," Harry said.

"Are you really?" Hermione said. She then launched into a monologue about reading about Harry in a handful of wizard history books. She posed one last question about houses, then suggested we change and left, taking Neville with her. Seizing the one last moment, I leaned out into the corridor.

Catching Hermione's attention, I summoned Neville's toad from a sealed compartment, much to Quirrell's voice's confusion, sending Trevor straight into Neville's hands. She blinked, surprised, to which I winked, and returned to my seat in the compartment as Harry and Ron finished their conversation about houses.

We then got into a tangent about Quidditch, and Ron arguing for the Chudley Cannons as the best team. His monologue on game details, lost on Harry, was cut short when the door opened once more, to the behest of Draco Malfoy and his minions, Crabbe and Goyle. I felt Graymalkin take a more combative stance, her tail puffing up.

"Is it true?" he said. "They've been saying up and down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

Harry confirmed, eyeing Crabbe and Goyle.

"Oh, this is Crabbe," Draco said, confusing Harry's wariness for curiosity, "and this is Goyle. And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

I sighed, frowning in exasperation as Ron hid a cough that most definitely did _not_ sound like a stifled snicker.

"Finally," Draco said, glaring at me with an expression of contempt and clearly misreading my exasperation for submission, "the Mudblood recognizes his betters."

And I had honestly thought he'd gotten better at reading expressions.

"And you," Draco said, snapping to Ron, "Think my name's funny, do you, _Weasley_?" He scoffed when Ron perked up in recognition. Must've been a multitude of visits to the Ministry shadowing his dad. "Don't think I didn't recognize you, Weasley," Draco said, reading surprise into Ron's face. "Father's told me all about you, with your red hair, freckles, and more children than you can afford."

I actively dropped all pretenses of etiquette as Dominic left his usual idle position behind my right shoulder and started circling Malfoy's head. Upper class or not, this kid needed a spanking. "And I see your father has forgotten about your lessons in courtesy, Draculus."

Draco leered back to me, with the faintest hint of a blush on his face, before turning to Harry, who was staring at me like I'd just challenged the Bogeyman to a one-on-one.

"Some wizarding families are better than others, Potter, you'll find that out soon enough. You don't want to be making friends with the wrong sort. I can help with that." Draco extended his hand, which Harry did not shake.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks."

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said, slower this time, as if he were educating a child. "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for the-"

Draco's insult was cut off as I rammed my gladius into the wall opposite me, dragging the item card straight from my Inventory window, the blade coming within inches of Malfoy's face (With Dominic's help, of course). Everyone _sans moi_ jumped as the _thunk_ of the wood resounded throughout the compartment, stopping all conversation on a dime.

"There's something about insults you should know, _Draculus_ ," I bit out. "A present party is fair game. Say whatever you want, refer to their family even. But insulting a present party's _family, directly_ is going too far."

Draco and I traded stares, silent, a mixture of fear, flustery, and a hint of malice on his face, a plain look of righteous anger and wrath on mine. Eventually, Draco stormed off. I sighed in relief as Graymalkin calmed down, settling on the seat between me and Harry, ignoring the stares Harry and Ron were giving me. I must have let my guard down, as I'd forgotten to retrieve my sword when Hermione walked in.

"What's going on... here..." Hermione's eyes went straight to the sword in the wall, tracing a perfectly straight line between me and the hilt. She suddenly stopped her stunned silence. "You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before you even begin!"

"Don't worry," I said, "no harm done. Well, one spooked rich brat, but no injury."

"Well," Hermione said slowly, sounding thoroughly unconvinced, "the conductor says we'll be arriving soon. You might want to put on your robes."

As a voice announced throughout the train that we'd be arriving in around five minutes, and that luggage would be taken to the school separately. Harry and Ron put their robes on over their clothes, having taken their jackets off first and crammed their pockets with candy. I just equipped mine, and then dismissed their questions of confusion in an "I'll explain later".

The train eventually slowed and stopped, and we unboarded the train.

* * *

Oio boios! DetectiveSky612 here!

So, I've finished all of my other major stories. This means I'll be able to focus more effort on Magic EXE, getting chapters out more quickly! Party if you want to, I'll just keep writing chapters.

Also, this chapter marks the start of the First Year Hogwarts arc/act/whateverthehellyouwanttocallit. Wish Alabaster (and me) luck against Professor Quirrell, and his evil overlord, Writer's Block!

But enough joking for now, the chapter's over already.

See you next DLC on:

Magic EXE: The Video Game


	4. Chapter 4

I stepped off of the train, right before Harry and Ron, looking through the crowd for Hagrid, whom Harry pointed out for me, carrying his spotlight lantern and shouting his customary "Firs' years wit' me!". Following the tall man and his lantern in the darkness, we joined many other first-year students as we walked down a dark, twisting, slightly muddy path towards the lakeshore. Silence reigned through most of the small crowd as I lit up the end of my wand with a quick Lumos.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Ron asked.

"Copying other wizards," I said.

I could hear Neville do a quick pocket pat to make sure Trevor was still with him, drowned out when we rounded a bend to see the castle in full glory, windows glowing like an ancient hoard of treasure, lake silent and glittering like a great black mirror, juxtaposed with a clear night sky and a round, full, bright moon. The sight took my breath away. Not even Tolkien or Rowling herself could truly describe what we were seeing. As the crowd divided into groups of four and got into boats, I clambered into a boat with Draco and his minions, extinguishing my wand an taking care to keep Graymalkin from falling off the boat. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville got their own boat, which I was honestly jealous of.

"So what are _you_ doing here, Mudblood? I thought they were shepherding returning students into carriages," Draco said, clearly trying to poke my pride into reacting.

"I'm a first-year student. I may not look the part, but I only got my letter at around the end of July, beginning of August," I said, trying my best to look impassive.

"Hmph. So you're a late bloomer, eh?" Draco said, smiling and mistaking my impassive face for an ashamed one. "It's a wonder you even attracted the attention of someone of _my_ status."

"Yeah..." I said, laughing. "You know, you're honestly a more likeable person when you're not flaunting your family name in other people's faces."

"You think?" Draco said, starting to frown. Crabbe and Goyle shifted, clearly expecting orders for a beatdown.

"Dude, chill. I think we can be... well, not _friends_ , but definitely not _enemies_. You hear?"

"Why should I be friends with someone like _you_?"

"Because, like it or not, we'll be seeing each other a lot around school."

"Oh yeah? Which house do you expect to be in?"

"Ravenclaw."

"I see your point. My father said something about a lot of classes with Ravenclaw. A truce, then?"

"A truce it is."

We shook hands, making eye contact with each other. It wasn't the best revelation to have Draco Malfoy as a - I shudder to think of it - _friend-like relation_ , yet it also wasn't the worst thing. He clearly didn't like the thought either, so we both got the handshake and eye contact over with quickly.

By then, we'd reached the entrance to a boathouse grotto, where we beached the boats on a shore of pebbles and I subsequently summoned Neville's lost toad, again. We made our way up a small stone stepway into the front grounds, where we walked up to the front doors and Hagrid did one last toad check and knocked, four times in a steady pattern.

 _Thump-thump-thump-thump._

The doors creaked open slightly, revealing Professor McGonagall, clad in emerald robes.

"The firs' years, Professor," Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here," McGonagall said.

She opened the doors the rest of the way. We shambled in as one large mass of kids and one seventeen-year-old adult student. The hall was rather grand, with a high, vaulted ceiling and black iron torches. Forwards led to the Great Staircase, whereas your could hears bits and pieces of conversation escaping the Great Hall. McGonagall waited for us to file in, then addressed the group as a whole.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses.

"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

McGonagall seemed to glare lasers at Ron's nose and Neville's incorrectly-fastened cloak after saying this.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

Draco and I seemed to be rather calm as everyone else started exchanging theories on how one was Sorted. We simply shook hands, however, and agreed to let the best student win over the year. I then shuffled over to Harry and Ron, noticing their looks of nervous helplessness.

"You're the experienced one, Alabaster. How are we sorted?" Harry asked.

"We don't have to wrestle a troll or anything, do we?" Ron follow-upped.

"Well, no, it's not that brutal," I said, "but I'd rather leave it as a surprise."

Harry and Ron looked to each other, dread on their faces mixed with a bit of fear at my grin, which was rather mischevious if I do say so myself.

This glance of "We're Doomed" caused them to jump three feet in the air when various ghosts phased through the wall and several people screamed.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

The Fat Friar was arguing with Shakespeare's ghostly twin over whether or not to evict Peeves. To this end, Shakespeare refused, saying Peeves had used up his last chance and gave ghosts a bad name, and then he suddenly noticed us.

"I say, what are you all doing here?"

Nearly everyone remained silent, too stunned to process what happened.

Nearly.

"We're new here," I said.

"Wonderful!" the Fat Friar exclaimed joyously. "Though you don't look like a child," he said, focusing specifically on me.

"I'm either 15, 16, or 17, can't remember which. Hogwarts has an adult-student program, apparently," I said.

"I take it you're about to be Sorted, then?"

A few people nodded, whereas I just replied with an "Mm-hmm".

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" the Friar. "My old House, you know!"

"Move along now!" McGonagall barked, having reentered the Entrance Hall. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

As the ghosts floated away, McGonagall put us into a single-file line, and marched us into the Great Hall. The Hall was vaulted like the hallway outside, but the arches could nary be found for the night sky appearing below it. Stars twinkled in the rafters, lending more light to the Hall. The four house tables were set with gilded dishware and cutlery, and ghosts could be seen dotted among the students staring at us. Professor McGonagall brought a four-legged stool and a raggedy old Sorting Hat to the forefront of the Hall, which twitched alive and started to sing its song for Year 1.

 **"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**

 **But don't judge on what you see,**

 **I'll eat myself if you can find**

 **A smarter hat than me.**

 **You can keep your bowlers black,**

 **Your top hats sleek and tall,**

 **For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**

 **And I can cap them all.**

 **There's nothing hidden in your head**

 **The Sorting Hat can't see,**

 **So try me on and I will tell you**

 **Where you ought to be.**

 **You might belong in Gryffindor,**

 **Where dwell the brave at heart,**

 **Their daring, nerve, and chivalry**

 **Set Gryffindors apart;**

 **You might belong in Hufflepuff,**

 **Where they are just and loyal,**

 **Those patient Hufflepuffs are true**

 **And unafraid of toil;**

 **Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind,**

 **Where those of wit and learning,**

 **Will always find their kind;**

 **Or perhaps in Slytherin**

 **You'll make your real friends,**

 **Those cunning folk use any means**

 **To achieve their ends.**

 **So put me on! Don't be afraid!**

 **And don't get in a flap!**

 **You're in safe hands (though I have none)**

 **For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**

The Hat bowed as the whole Hall applauded it, then quieted down once more.

"So we just have to put on a hat?" Ron asked me.

"Yep. Did Fred tell you that thing about wrestling a troll?"

"You bet."

Professor McGonagall stepped up once more, this time with a long scroll, and unrolled it. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." She then started reading through the list, starting with one Abbott, Hannah. Down the list McGonagall and the Hat continued, until they reached my name about five or six spots in.

"Dresden, Alabaster!"

I walked up to the Hat's stool with purpose, feeling butterflies in my stomach and sweat forming on my brow. Moving Graymalkin from my shoulder and into my lap, I donned the hat, and was rather unsurprised when it didn't go all the way on. It seemed to be enough, though.

 _Hmm... What do we have here?_ the Hat said, very literally the voice inside my head. _Very interesting. You're quite a mind, that's for sure. These memories of a battle at Hogwarts are rather interesting, as if you haven't been there yourself._

 _Please, don't look at those, or at least don't tell anyone,_ I thought back _cum homunculus_. _That's the future as I knew it you're looking at._

 _I see what you mean._ The Hat and I fell silent for a bit, working on my Sorting. _That's weird. The only clue as to your personality despite your memories is your plans for this future._ _Very audacious, those. Makes this whole thing more difficult._ The Hat paused, and ruffled through my head some more. _Definitely not Hufflepuff, though the work required is definitely enough to land you in it. The wisdom for Ravenclaw is there, but that's a means to an end, as is the courage and flirting with Death I see before you, according to your memories, for Gryffindor._

"Five minutes," I heard someone hiss.

 _This whole thing was put together by your plans to change things, so I'll take the last and foremost option,_ the Hat finished.

Hold on, _does that mean I'm in-_

"SLYTHERIN!" the Hat shouted, much to my astonishment, as the Slytherin table politely applauded me, most of them clearly not very optimistic at the prospect of an adult student. Nobody really said anything as I returned Graymalkin to my shoulder and the Hat to its stool, and walked swiftly and silently over to the Slytherin table. I was still processing my Sorting when Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle arrived, though they were more annoyed than BSODing.

"Eleven farglebarns," I said when Draco looked at me, which weirded him out enough to shut up towards me for the rest of the Sorting. Dumbledore stood up when Blaise Zabini had been Sorted, ready to give his pre-feast speech.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. Here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

And with that, Dumbledore sat down, and all manners of food appeared on the serving plates, teleported up from the kitchens below. I took a few cuts of roast beef and mashed potatoes, slathered them in gravy, and dug in. I glanced to Draco after a while and sighed, fed up with the scowl he was giving me.

"What?"

"I'm not entirely impressed with the Sorting Hat. Clearly, it's made a mistake."

"I fully trust its judgement, and now that I think about it, am not too surprised. I'll tell you the specifics when we get to the common room."

"I'll hold you to that," Draco said, as we ended the conversation and returned to our food. Malfoy tried to start a (rather uncomfortable) conversation afterwards with the Bloody Baron, who was sitting right beside him, every now and then. When we were all finished, the food warped away and was replaced with all manner of desserts. Feeling full as I was, I helped myself to a couple of chocolate éclairs and an ice cream sandwich, and couldn't help but express a slight amount of disgust at Crabbe and Goyle, who had taken around six or seven cupcakes each. Eventually, the desserts warped away as well, and Dumbledore went over the standard school rules for Year 1: No going into the Forest, no going into the Third Floor Corridor. We sang the school song at our own paces (mine was a jaunty little jig) and, well-fed and rather tired, the houses rose from their tables and broke off to the common rooms. The first few people out of the Great Hall suddenly ran back in and shut the doors, eliciting fear from the general populace and concern from the teachers.

"ZOMBIE KNIGHTS!" one of the more pop-culturally-versed Ravenclaw first-years screamed. Knowing full well what he probably meant, I went over to the Ravenclaw in question, cursing my newfound Monster Magnet properties, and knelt beside him.

"It's okay, kid. The cavalry's here."

 **Quest Added: Escape the Feast!**

 **[ ] Defeat the Chameleon Ghouls**

 **[ ] Escort your House to their Common Room**

 **[ ] View the Crafting Tutorial**

I stood up and walked over to the doors, right behind a line of prefects holding the now-shuddering pair of doors shut. I put one hand on my Longsword in its sheath at my side, the other on my wand, and turned to Percy Weasley, the nearest Prefect.

"Oh, hello, Percy. I know your brother, Ron."

"Can't - Talk - Now - Rrgh!" Percy bit out, straining to keep the doors shut.

"Don't worry then," I said. "Open it on my mark."

"What?"

"Trust me, Percy. If I kill you here, or anyone else for that matter, then irreparable damage would be done to the Universe," I said, attempting my first Meta roll.

Percy shrugged and relayed the order to the other Prefects, whereas I fistpumped internally and drew my Longsword, formulating a simple battle plan and taking a page from the Hero of Wind's book. I held my sword behind me and set up for a simple corkscrew, unsurprised when the students gave me a wide berth as my sword started to glow yellow.

 **You have discovered a new Skill: Tornado Spin**

"Mark!" I shouted, and released the skill as the doors ground open, revealing 6 or 7 Chameleon Ghouls that started to lurch in.

Unfortunately for them, I had just used a Tornado Spin.

The blade sliced through the two closest to me as I lured them out into the hallway. The rest turned toward me and lurched slowly towards me. Ignoring the screams of terror, horror and concern resounding from the entrance to the Hall, I dispatched the Ghouls remaining - one by one - by slicing their joints to bits. When all was said and done, I did a 360, checking for more Ghouls, and upon seeing none, I sheathed my sword, taking a deep breath to get myself to CALM THE HELL DOWN.

 **Level Up!**

Of course, the small sense of satisfaction at single-handedly saving a good chunk of Hogwarts' school population was quickly curbstomped and dashed against the floor as Professor Dumbledore and the four Heads of House emerged from the front of the crowd, entering the small ring that had formed around me, stowing their wands.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Professor Snape asked menacingly, as evidently seeing a student in the midst of armour carnage was not cool to him, especially not if that student was a brand-new Slytherin.

"The..." I swallowed, bringing the raspy quality out of my voice. "The danger's past."

"Seeing as you, Mr Dresden, are newly Sorted into my House, I would expect you to know that _this is not how any Hogwarts student, let alone any Slytherin, would act_."

I gulped, then started to get a bit hot under the collar as Dumbledore intervened. "However, Severus, Mr Dresden did dispel the threat to the students when they managed to get through the doors."

My stomach fell through the floor when Percy piped up. "Actually, he opened the doors."

Snape's glare went from Bullet Hole setting to straight-on Hellfire and Brimstone. "Mr Dresden, you remain fortunate that the House Cup running has not started yet, otherwise _ALL THE HOUSE POINTS UP TO TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN GONE_!"

"Severus," Dumbledore said, "I believe there is more to Alabaster than meets the eye. Open Muggle-style combat and the use of a blade warrants further questions. Houses shall return to their dormitories, and Mr Dresden," Dumbledore said, to me this time, "You will come with me."

And so that was how, with Graymalkin on my shoulder, I was effectively frogmarched to Dumbledore's office by the most beloved and most loathed staff members in Hogwarts.

* * *

" _Explain yourself_ ," Snape said, trying to glare bullet holes into my face.

"Although I do not share Severus' reaction, Mr Dresden," Dumbledore chimed in before I could respond, "I would indeed like to know the motivation to endanger the wellbeing of many Hogwarts students, even when more capable wizards could have responded seconds after you chose to."

"Don't worry, Professors, I'll get to that," I said, "But first, some rather necessary exposition. To what extent are you familiar with modern Muggle technology?"

"Admittedly, not at all, though they make rather excellent sweets," Dumbledore said, "but I suspect you'll change that in the next few minutes."

"Headmaster, you can't seriously be considering having this one student waste hours on end retelling half the Muggle Studies curriculum," Snape said.

"He did say this was exposition, Severus. I'm willing to wait as long as he explains himself."

"Headmaster-"

"Please continue, Mr Dresden."

"Thank you, Professor. Anyway, since the year 1981, Muggles have been entertaining themselves with video games. These are like board games which can take any shape - building a city, going to war, saving a damsel in distress and thus a whole kingdom - but I digress. Fast forward to the year 2016, which I'm from, and you not only have the emergence and popularity of the game where you play the hero and save the world, but its next logical step: total immersion. Dominic acts as my link to Tech Support and Mission Control, and tells me that I signed up to have my memory wiped of all individuality and have myself thrown into total immersion. I'm merely a beta tester, but here I am, talking to a person who's just another fictional father figure in my world, yet as real as anything I've ever seen. Or rather, what I've seen from the remnants of my memories."

"And your explanation for opening the Great Hall to the Chameleon Ghouls?" Snape said.

"I honestly thought I was the best-equipped to deal with it. While you may be superior at magic, in my experience nonplayer characters in a story never advance the plot and are nearly useless when it comes to a straight fight. I apologize for any insult or danger I may have caused, but I was dealing with the problem in the best way I knew."

"Thank you, Mr Dresden. Although you endangered the wellbeing of several students, you did prove capable of dealing with the threat. For the next month, you will be on probation, and any serious rule-breaking will result in suspension or expulsion, depending on how serious the situation is. That will be all for tonight, I believe."

Dumbledore waved me back to the common room, which I located on my minimap and subsequently journeyed towards, defeating a few more Chameleon Ghouls on the way, and reaching the common room door as the clock tower struck 11:00. I got the Bloody Baron to let me in, and took a few moments to appreciate the common room.

There were green tapestries depicting the Slytherin crest by the entrance, leading to a hearth hall with a rather large window looking out beneath the surface of the lake. In the moonlight, however, I could see nary but the surface and the odd anglerfish, or were those people? Nope, merpeople. It's not every day that the word "merperson" becomes relevant.

Looking between the dormitories and the hearth (which had since burned down to embers), I chose the hearth, removing my shoes and cloak and flopping down onto a couch, relaxing in the fact that everyone had gone to their dorms that night. I pulled my cloak up onto me as I would a blanket, and Graymalkin curled up beside me, purring softly. Before I closed my eyes, I saw the coffee table I miraculously hadn't rammed a shin or pinky toe into, and noticed a dialog popup before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Are you serious, sir?!" Snape hissed, turning to Dumbledore in confusion. "The kid's a lunatic, he should be in a madhouse! It's a wonder he hasn't succumbed to an Obscurus already!"

"Severus," Dumbledore said, calm and stoic as ever. "Consider Mr Dresden's oddities along with his explanation. It explains them well, does it not?"

Snape fell silent for a moment. "As well-founded as it seems, such an occurrence is-"

"Impossible?" Snape fell silent once again at this; Dumbledore stole the word straight from his mouth. "I would remind you that we, as wizards, do things many Muggles would consider impossible. I also believe a certain principle in interrogation - the "audacity fallacy", I believe it's called - would come into play. If he was indeed lying about his story, he would not have told us such fantastical things as he did. If he was indeed a madman of magical blood, he would have either appeared in the Hogwarts student body much earlier or succumbed to an Obscurus - He appears to prefer Muggle implements, possibly from conditioning to do so; though his powers exist, he evidently only discovered them after he first stepped into Hogwarts."

Snape walked to the office door, intending to leave for... the staff lounge, perhaps, or his dormitory. Dumbledore left the Potions master with one last parting word.

"This is food for thought for you as well as I, Severus. Perhaps another time we can ask him further questions."

* * *

Oio boios! DetectiveSky612 here!

So Alabaster's finally been Sorted and has shown Hogwarts his fighting skills! Reality ensues, and our hero has been put on probation. The first few days of classes are next, and I still have to go into detail on crafting, ammo types, and the Hogwarts Battle card game and duel rules!

Also, Magic EXE is approaching 200 views! To celebrate this event, I will reveal the most common concept mentioned in DMs to me! Review with what you want me to explain, and I will post the concept in the Author's Note (this bit here) upon reaching 200 views!

As always, please follow and favourite, and maybe review. It means a lot to me to know what you think of my work!


	5. Chapter 5

I groaned as I woke up the next day, squinting at sunlight filtering through the lake windows. Last night had been long and hard, and to be honest, I would've slept through the next few hours if I hadn't had classes in those same few hours. I checked my watch and asked Dominic about the Hogwarts class schedule to orient myself.

 **Current In-World Time: 7:20 A.M.**

"And classes start at 8:45, go until 11:40, lunch break until 12:40, and then resume until 3:30," Dominic said.

I pulled Graymalkin off of my cloak and laid her on the couch beside me, and I took the now covered-in-cat-hair cloak and put it on over my basic school uniform, attaching a Slytherin patch (which had appeared overnight - I must've fallen asleep before the house elves had gotten here) over my generic Hogwarts one. I did a routine check of my weapons and equipment, which had stayed the same overnight, and checked the dialogue popup that had appeared before I passed out.

 **So, you've established yourself in your world, and have gotten some phebotinic know-how along with your equipment. Now what?**

 **Now you upgrade it!**

 **Whenever you want to upgrade an item, you have to get the designs for an upgrade (either by purchasing it or by spending a few hours and 100 MS per upgrade tier to come up with the blueprint) and then actually implement the upgrade.**

 **Here's a workbook detailing your upgrade trees!**

Another dialog box popped up, announcing the arrival of my Engineer's Notebook.

 **If you head over to your local Engineer's Table** (and oddly enough, there was a table complete with blueprint paper and magnifying glass over to one side of the common room) **then we can get started on upgrades.**

I was a man of faith in Tutorials, and so went over to the workbench.

 **Inside your Notebook you'll find all of your blueprints. Try opening it now.**

As I did so, the page I opened it to glowed gold and faded into blue, displaying my Short Sword. There was a little pocket tab labelled "UPGRADES" off to one side. Currently, it held one more blueprint.

 **As you're only just starting the game (we hope), you've only got blueprints for your starter weapons, as well as any first-tier weapons and equipment, plus upgrades for them.**

 **Let's upgrade your Initiate's Short Sword. Just place it on the table and take a look at the upgrade blueprint.**

I put the sword at the bottom of the bench and unfolded the blueprint from its pocket, turning a few pages to see what else was available to upgrade (just my Crossbow). Placing the blueprint on the table, I checked the next dialog box.

 **If you're not pressed for time or weaponry, then just position the magnifying glass above the blueprint to get started.**

I checked my watch again, then decided to go and grab breakfast, taking the sword and the blueprint with me. It was too early for this kind of thing.

Breakfast was similar to the feast last night, with plates of food laid out along the tables, this time consisting of pancakes, waffles, ham, bacon, and the occasional stick of butter or jug of maple syrup. Taking some pancakes and bacon and drowning the whole thing in syrup, I ate, regaining presence of mind with each bite. Once I was done, I fed Graymalkin a few pieces of leftover bacon, ignoring the stares from my fellow Slytherins. Ignoring Draco's quips, I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the Great Hall, and walked over to where they were sitting.

"'Morning, Gryffindors!" I said, feeling cheery but still pretty tired. Hermione, her nose in a Transfiguration book and sitting further away, seemed the most awake out of the three, though that was only because she didn't seem ready to just stick her face into her plate and doze off.

"Hello, Alabaster," Harry said, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses. "Nice to see you again."

"So did you get your schedule?"

"Yeah... First class is..." Harry blinked a few times, trying to read his schedule without falling asleep. "Double Herbology."

"Same. I think we've got quite a few classes together this year."

"Whatever..."

I sidled over to Hermione. "Whatcha readin'?"

Hermione stayed silent, taking notice only when I coughed to grab her attention.

"Oh! It's A Beginner's Guide to Tranfiguration," she said, tapping the clearly-visible title on the cover.

"Oh, right, that. Anything interesting?"

"The more large-scale transformations are so..." Hermione grasped for a word. " _exhilirating_."

"Well," I said, checking my watch, "I should probably get going. I've got something I want to check out before Double Herbology, so... See you there, I guess?"

"See you there!" Hermione said, returning to her book.

I walked back down to the Slytherin common room, and returned to the Engineer's Table. I spread the blueprint out before me, and moved the magnifying glass over the table. A beam of light flashed in my eyes, blinding me, and when my vision returned I was in a small forge, somewhere in a generic castle, complete with hearth, anvil, and tools.

[Play Music: Lanayru Desert (Past), The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]

 **\- The Forge -**

Dominic flew up to a specially-designed notch in the wall, and plugged himself in, keeping an eye on me while a faint whirring could be heard, winding him up.

 **Welcome to the Forge!**

 **This is your workshop, where you will upgrade your weapons and equipment. You can also store materials and weapons here. If you turn back to the Engineer's Table, you will see the blueprint for your weapon.**

I looked back to the blueprint, where there now sat my Short Sword, and now there were a handful of progress meters at various points - The blade, the handle, and the guard. The blade had a denominator of 5, the handle that of 2, and the guard that of 3.

 **Should you have the required materials, you can upgrade the Initiate's Short Sword into a proper Short Sword now! This will take three to four hours, so make sure you can spare the time.**

"Dom?"

"You've around half an hour."

I took the blueprint and sword, stuffing both into my Inventory, and taking the lens portal out of the Forge. I equipped all of my usual stuff, and made my way out of the Slytherin common room, checking my wand and gloves as I made my way to the greenhouses.

* * *

After classes that day, I was exhausted, but excited to try out the Forge. Taking the portal through the Engineer's Table, I set up everything again once I was no longer blinded. I tried to take the sword from the Engineer's Table, but it fell apart, leaving the blade in my hands.

 **To upgrade your weapon, you will have to reforge it, piece by piece, and reassemble it once everything is done. If you place the piece in the Forge, it will start to heat up.**

I did so, and waited.

 **Now take it out and hammer on it - once per material copy you're using to build this.**

I put the blade on an anvil and hammered on it, five times.

 **Repeat this for all the pieces, let it cool, assemble it, and you're good to go!**

I did the other two pieces, and took one last look at the Forge when I was finished. The hearth and furnace still crackled merrily, orange firelight illuminating the dark grey brick of the walls. Tools and raw materials sat strewn about everywhere, giving the room a lived-in feel. I Observed both the Longsword and the Short Sword, replacing the Longsword. I examined my new Short Sword, no longer that of a noob, admiring its new leaflike shape, no longer a gladius, but something more like Sting. The bright, shining steel glinted in the hearthlight, something I was still watching when I arrived back in the Slytherin common room. Sheathing my new sword, I collected Graymalkin from the couch she'd been sleeping on and checked the time.

"In-world time is 6:45," Dominic announced. "You were fast."

I couldn't believe my ears. "What?! Two, three hours and I was FAST?! That only took, like, _ten minutes_ even!"

"Not only do you not appreciate the amount of time it takes to make even a knife, but time also flows differently in the Forge."

"You don't say…" I said dryly.

 **Title Unlocked: Engineer: x2 Crafting speed.**

I took a look through the common room, before deciding to set up shop in an alcove looking out into the lake. Dropping my satchel at the base of the seat, I pulled out my homework for the day and started working.

* * *

Wednesday nights were my favourite.

[Play Music: Veils of Starlight, Derek & Brandon Fiechter]

We would go up the Astronomy tower, and we'd chart the skies. Dominic would help me with that, and I'd get to look _up_.

Let it be said here that the human soul does not experience wonder until it has seen the true majesty of an unpolluted night sky.

The stars would sparkle in the vast black, all red and yellow and blue, smattered across the heavens, especially in the Milky Way. Each little pinprick, a giant, burning ball of plasma many time the size of the Sun, our own little pinprick in the Universe. I gazed through the telescope at Saturn, watching it move through the sky, when the teacher tapped my shoulder and said I could go if I wanted to.

 **\- History of Magic -**

History of Magic was mildly interesting, if only because of the Goblin Wars. Professor Binns was a bit of a droner, but I just had to imagine that it was not his voice, but rather a text-to-speech machine, and it kept me amused enough to stay attentive.

 **\- Charms -**

Charms was fun. We slogged through theory and practice hand-in-hand, and soon enough I was reading ahead and learning spells like Lumos and Incendio.

 **\- Transfiguration -**

Professor McGonagall was a very strict teacher. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she did a big demonstration of Transfiguration involving a desk pig. And, of course, like all opening demonstrations, it was miles away from being open to us. We had to work our way up. For today, we were given a match and told to make it into a needle. I drew my wand, thinking of the Latin I'd need to use to do this properly. I looked to Hermione, sitting beside me, and suddenly found the conclusion.

"Affacio gladiulum!"

The resulting magic blast blew the match up into the air, only for it to stick into the desk upon landing, end-down. As well it should, because it had turned a shiny silver and gone all pointy at one end with a loop on the other. I pried it from the desk, and looked at it. Yup, it was definitely a sewing needle. I fiddled with it, looking around the classroom, at the people who were staring at me. They had heard my rather showy completion of the task, as had Professor McGonagall.

"Although I'm rather satisfied with your success, Mr Dresden, might I ask for the sake of morale that you keep your quick fixes to yourself?"

"Sorry, Professor. I had no idea it would do that."

"What do you mean, Mr Dresden? Did you create the spell yourself?"

"Just now, yeah."

"Mr Dresden, I shall send word to Professors Snape and Dumbledore concerning this affair. In the meantime, everybody back on task!" McGonagall prompted everyone else. And thus the wand-waving and incantations of "Ferferrulo" resumed.

"Alabaster, what was that spell you used?" Hermione whispered to me.

"Affacio gladiulum. Literally "I make a tiny sword"."

"Thanks."

Much to my dismay, Hermione's success was almost silent. By the end of the class, Hermione was the only one besides me that had had anything even resembling a needle. Neville even got his match to turn into a lollipop, somehow. When I had finished snickering over the fact that it was a lollipop and not something like a knife, we had already moved on to that day's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Which sucked, by the way. Not only was Quirrell a huge coward and sketchy as all hell, even without the help of meta, he had hung garlic all over the room. Not that it was a bad thing, I personally liked garlic, but it was a bit overpowering at times. We just did theory and such, though, so after all the garlicky horror the only chance we had of fighting back was knowing the things that the stuff we were fighting hated. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I agreed to form a little DADA study group, to fix that problem.

On Friday, I got a note via a school owl that Hagrid had invited me over for tea. I took the offer, split up a fight between Graymalkin and the owl, and sent the note back to Hagrid. I also got a consultation note from Dumbledore, excusing me from classes on Friday afternoon. Making a mental note about the meeting, I gathered my stuff and went to Potions.

* * *

 **\- Hogwarts Dungeons - Potions Classroom -**

As expected in Harry's first Potions class, I sat next to Draco, and was forced to watch as Harry was insulted by Snape. Draco saw my steely look of dislike towards Snape, and asked me one single question:

"So you wish you were in Potter's place, don't you?"

"What? No! If anything, I can understand why he's performing so badly. It's crazy scary to be singled out in front of an entire class."

"I'm not scared of something as trivial as that. One day, I'm going to be Minister for Magic!"

"Well, shoot for the stars, they say."

As Snape finished the ridculing, he urged us to copy his points down. I grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and started writing.

 _Asphodel powder+wormwood = Draught of Living Death_

 _Bezoar is useful_

 _Monkshood=wolfsbane=aconite_

We then started our first potion: A boil remedy. I removed my equipment from my Satchel, ignoring the weird look from Draco, who I'd been partnered with for this brew, and proceeded to start up with the potion. I had merrily reached the halfway point and was about to hand control off to Draco when I noticed Snape breathing down my neck.

"That scale is not one of the equipment pieces listed, Dresden," the Potions Master said, attempting to glare bullet holes into my skull. "Explain."

"They're Muggle equivalents, Professor. I know how to use the triple beam balance better than I know how to use a set of scales and weights. Besides, it's more precise."

Snape sighed. "Five points from Slytherin, Dresden. Why do you make me do this? And see that you exchange that infernal contraption for something actually on the required equipment list by the end of class or else it'll be triple that."

I nodded, rummaging through my satchel before pulling out the required scale and stowing the Muggle one. Draco looked at me in utmost 404 while Snape _harrumph_ ed and stormed off to the front of the class again, complimenting Draco's stirring. I had just enough time to remember the next event and duck before Neville's cauldron exploded in a localized shower of green fire, acid, and noise. I pulled my feet onto my stool as the acid seeped over the floor, getting in the cracks between bricks. Snape whirled to Harry, absolutely livid.

"Potter!" he shouted, cowing Harry into submission. "I suppose you thought letting Mr Longbottom here obliterate his cauldron would make you look good, didn't you? Another point from Gryffindor. And you - Dresden!" he said, whirling to me, "You must have instructed Neville on the fine points of using a scale, as only someone so irredeemably wrong could have created this mess. Fifteen points from Slytherin."

Harry and I both opened our mouths to respond, but while Harry had Ron stop him, I saw the look on Draco's face and decided against a response, letting my anger simmer.

"So you're afraid of Professor Snape?" Draco erroneously whispered as the aforementioned teacher cleaned up the acid and Seamus Finnigan took Neville up to the hospital wing.

"Not in the slightest," I replied.

"Well," Draco said as the bell rang for the end of class, "You'd better start confronting that fear. He's going to be Vice Minister once I become Minister for Magic."

I sighed, annoyed, and left the dungeon with everyone else, going to the Great Hall for lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

Good time-of-day.

As many of you can probably already tell, this is not another very-long-awaited chapter for Magic EXE. No, this is quite the contrary: The final death-knell for the project under my authorship.

I was never the kind of person to plan ahead of time - I simply wrote whatever came into my head in the early days. That kind of authorship produced Torrent, featuring in _Making A Sword_ , and Jack Grayson, from _Dragonheart_. Not so for Alabaster Dresden.

No, I was determined to make Alabaster better… better than the horrible writing of my early career. Better than the one-sided characters. I was determined to save Alabaster from this fate, and as such I planned out his every move and motivation, his every action on the multiverse stage in Terraverse. However, this meant that Alabaster, and with his adventures, the entire Magic EXE series, quickly fell victim to another of my traits that lend horribly to writing.

Once I had everything planned out… My motivation died.

It was as if my heart was saying "What's the big deal, we know the story now, why copy it over" when I tried to sit down and write the damn thing. The devil was in the details.

So this is me, DetectiveSky612, saying that Magic EXE is not going to be a classical-style book anymore.

The lore around Alabaster and a handful of that surrounding Terraverse I already have written, and saved elsewhere. It's a fairly big world, once you get a bunch of franchises together into a multiverse, and the possibilities are nigh endless. So I've decided to take Magic EXE in the direction I took for the more-productive Magic EXE Lite: This work shall now be an anthology series. I'll do my best to fill in the gaps around Alabaster's adventures, and avoid the filler that plagues the later chapters. I'm not decanonizing anything, only saying that I'll now be writing the series from here on out as a set of set-pieces, released in order as various Harry Potter plot points emerge and Alabaster deals with them, along with various quests and objectives he sets on his own.

Basically, expect a lot of time-skips past plot points where nothing much changes from Al's perspective.

There's also sixteen other Beta Testers to meet, and a meta-Big Bad to vanquish. In Terraverse, adventure knows no bounds! I also ask you, my faithful readers, to perhaps think of an event in Terraverse. It doesn't have to feature Alabaster, it doesn't have to be Harry Potter, but it can be of anything or everything. After the end of this snippet, I'm going to put some groundwork for Terraverse's character system, and I'll leave it up to you to write characters and adventures of your own!

After all, video games are much more fun in multiplayer.

* * *

 **— Hallowe'en, 1991 —**

I dashed into the bathroom as fast as my legs could carry me, ignoring the Sprint skill that had just been created. As Dumbledore and the other staff checked over the dungeons, I had seized my moment and run straight here.

And as well I should have, considering how Harry and Ron had only just unlocked the doors, realizing too late that they had tried to trap the troll in the girls' bathroom.

"Harry! Ron! What on Earth are you doing here?!"

"Alabaster! You're good with that sword, right?"

 _ **Quest Added: Troll in the "Dungeons"**_

 **\- Defeat the Troll [ ]**

 **\- Rescue Hermione [ ]**

"Well, since the staff are searching the dungeons, I'm going to have to be!"

I kicked open the door, grabbing the attention of the troll right before it would have brained Hermione.

"Hello there."

The troll then decided I would make a better meal… or whatever it thought of me as in its tiny troll brain. In any case, it started towards me.

Boss Fight: Cave Troll (Fight Theme: Wood Man, Mega Man 2 OST)

I sighed mentally at the switch-out Terraverse had made. "They have a cave troll," I deadpanned, huffing as I psyched myself up for the fight.

I drew my Longsword. I had no firearms, so I would have to make do. The troll grunted as I hefted the sword into two hands, preparing for a fight which I would mostly spend dodging. The troll's first attack, an overhead swing with its club, was visible from space, and I easily dodged it, letting it crack the tiled floor beneath me. I rolled up to the troll, slashing at its kneecaps, starting back in shock when the blade bounced off. I retreated to the entrance, sheathing the Longsword.

"What's happening Al?" Harry shouted in.

"My sword doesn't work!" I shouted back.

Hermione started, noticing for the first time that someone was in here, trying to save her. "Alabaster!"

"Hermione! Are you alright?!"

"Yes! I'm fine! Was that you, distracting the troll?"

"Yeah!"

I drew my wand, readying what few spells I remembered the somatic parts, or wand-waving, of. "Alright… Here goes… Diffindo!"

I must have had a terrible roll somewhere, as the spell went wide and notched the troll's club. The troll sent another swing my way, destroying a pair of stalls in the process, but I leapt over the club, dodging the attack.

"Reducto!" I shouted, blasting the club out of the troll's hands. It smashed into a mirror, at which I winced, and destroyed a sink, then clattered to the floor. I raised my wand in challenge, then spun it around. "Teneo!" I said, Grappling the troll's club and using the spell to raise it off of the ground. I used the club's weight to give me a pole to vault with as the troll tried to punch me. I cleared the troll's head, brushing my hair on the ceiling, and landed beside Hermione's stall, which was still undamaged after this whole fiasco. I put away my wand and drew my sword once more, readying a Great Spin to go at its knees from behind. I breathed a sigh of relief this time as the troll crumpled onto its knees, bleeding fissures in the joints a sign of a successful kneecapping. It grabbed its club once again, and tried to swat me behind it.

In retrospect, I should not have been celebrating at the time.

I flew all the way into another mirror, shattering it, where I then rolled off of the sink and into the puddle of deep blue stuff that was growing on the floor.

Hang on… water wasn't that intense of a blue colour.

Dominic projected the new skill, "Mana Create," to me from the entrance (plus a retooled stat system, apparently), and I quickly coated a crossbow bolt in the stuff and zapped it with a quick spellsmithing - "Eclara", a lightning spell based off of the zapping magic seen in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - setting the bolt alight, burning a hot blue. I cranked the goatsfoot lever, loading the crossbow, and did as best a quickscope impression as I could while trying to avoid catching the puddle of flammable material around me, aimed straight at the troll's face, now visible from my end of the bathroom as it had gotten itself back on its feet and turned around - damn temporary video game debuffs.

Now I'm not sure if it was a lucky roll or if it was plot, but the flaming crossbow bolt went straight up the troll's nose. It roared and flailed, which Harry took as a signal, the eleven-year-old charging into the room and trying to throttle the troll, his wand going straight up the troll's other nostril. The flailing intensified, flinging Harry off. I caught him with a quick Levicorpus, then shouted to Ron.

"Ron! Try using a Lev charm while it's distracted!"

"What?"

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"

"Oh!"

Ron then zapped up the troll's club, just like canon, and brought it down on the troll's head. There was a deep _thud_ , and the troll fell to the floor, still. I doubted it would be moving for a while.

It was at this moment that McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell entered the room.

"DRESDEN!" Snape snapped. "I should have known you would have something to do with this. Your foolishness makes one wonder how you're not in Gryffindor."

"And I would very much like to know what your something to do with this _is_ , Mr Dresden. The same question is posed to you, Mr Potter, and you, Mr Weasley," Professor McGonagall asked, very much livid.

"Please, Professors…" Hermione piped up, emerging from her stall. "They were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!" McGonagall gasped.

"I went looking for the troll be - because I thought I could deal with it on my own… because I'd read all about them."

"She then came to me," I continued as Ron dropped his wand, which he'd still been holding. "Hermione asked if I could help her take down a troll. I said yes, which seemed like a good idea at the time, considering how I was thinking in theory at that point. Although I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew…" This was blatant fabrication to Harry and Ron. I had come here because plot and a quest. "We ran into the troll as it was wandering over this way, and took shelter in the bathroom as we couldn't go anywhere else. I had to pull a last stand, and was almost out of ideas when Harry and Ron arrived." The two "saviours" in question tried to look innocent.

"Well then… Miss Granger, how could you think of tackling a cave troll on your own? Five points from Gryffindor. And Mr Dresden… Professor Snape informs me that you are already on probation for your stunt at the start-of-term banquet."

Professor Snape continued. "Professor Dumbledore WILL hear about the grievous rule breaking you have performed tonight, Dresden."

I gulped. I'd forgotten about that.

Snape continued to lecture me while Professor McGonagall rewarded Harry and Ron and sent them back to Gryffindor Tower. "Follow me." Snape frogmarched me back up into Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster was sitting at his desk, going over papers, evidently only just returned from looking for the troll. After a couple seconds, he left his quill in the inkwell and looked up to me.

"Alabaster, I understand that the previous time you left my office, you were under probation for dangerous behaviour. However, circumstances have changed."

Snape's eyes seemed to light up a tiny bit beyond "black and beady" - though whether it was because he was expecting my expulsion remained to be seen.

"You have shown yourself to, a second time, be acting in the interests of Hogwarts by protecting its students from harm to the best of your ability. Goodness knows what might have happened in the girls' toilets had you not intervened."

I decided to _not_ mention how the troll incident had originally happened.

"In any case, your probationary period is to be considered fulfilled. You have free rein over the school grounds, though I remind you that you are not exempt from school rules. Godspeed, Alabaster."

With that, and Snape sputtering, I left the office before Snape could protest otherwise, thinking over the discovery I'd made during the fight with the troll.

The water had reacted to the magic. I should look into that for use in firearms…

* * *

Oio, boios! DetectiveSky here!

As I said earlier, I'm opening up the secrets of Terraverse to you, the readers, to make your own adventures in!

As of right now, I have 3 of the 16 beta testers (besides Alabaster) defined, plus Alabaster's bug-stomper at Terraverse HQ. So basically, anyone besides those guys are up for grabs.  
Character creation happens like so:

\- Each character starts with 100 Hit Points, 20 Magical Stamina, 10 STRength, DEXterity, INTellect, WISdom, and CONstitution, 8.5 SPeeD, and 10 LuCK.  
\- They choose a name, and are given some sort of hammerspace bag or backpack, plus an Initiate's Short Sword and Initiate's Crossbow.  
\- The character has no class, no titles, no money; only the skill "Sapient" to create new skills from techniques they develop.  
\- They "randomly" choose a universe to start off in, where they are then locked until the first full story arc of their universe's franchise has passed.

Anything else that isn't defined by Magic EXE I'll leave up to you guys!

READY PLAYER TWO


	7. Chapter 7

I lifted the small vial of Mana I'd collected after the Troll Incident, and stared at the small measure of blue liquid inside. I then glanced down at the notes and equations I'd unlocked from Terraverse, which were supposed to help me develop the stuff into propellant, and back up to the vial. I cursed, and rubbed my eyes. I was losing sleep due to this set of notes, and I wanted it back. It was infuriating - I had enough of a WIS stat to see that there was a piece of the puzzle I didn't have, but not enough of an INT stat to pick up on what it is.

Which I should probably clarify, for those who don't get what I'm getting at: Terraverse had retooled its stat system during the Troll Incident to be a bit less confuzzled. INT, or Intellect, would now handle my rational mind checks and my magic offence, while WIS, or Wisdom, handled both my emotional mind checks and my magic defence.

I huffed, and turned back to the problem at hand. There was just something I wasn't getting. Was it an equation? A relation? I knew (and could remember) a handful of equations on kinematics and quantum physics, but neither seemed like they would help; I was dealing with magic here and shouldn't expect rational, consistent results like in science. I set the vial down onto a test-tube rack I had in the forge, then walked over to the Engineer's Table, where my disassembled Initiate's Crossbow lay. I brought the magnifying glass up to a glare, and looked around as the Slytherin common room materialized around me. I turned towards the dorms, feeling my eyes grow heavy already. I'd have to take it up another day.

* * *

"So what is that substance you've discovered, Alabaster?" Hermione asked. "We're all curious as to what it is."

"Maybe then, you'll become the Potions master for its discovery, instead of Snape," Harry said.

I laughed at Harry's remark before answering Hermione. "I know for a fact that it's a magically-charged form of water that is also intensely volatile, but other than that, _nada_."

It was the last day before the winter break at Hogwarts, and everyone was sort of antsy. With the wintry weather and my signing up to stay at Hogwarts came the discovery that the castle was rather drafty, so in addition to my Hogwarts blazer and work robes, I had switched out my cloak for a blue longcoat I'd bought during an (unauthorized) trip to Hogsmeade. The mystery of the Mana still eluded me, something I pondered over as I followed Harry and Ron out of the Potions classroom. I practically walked into the huge conifer in the hallway, only noticing it when the needles brushed against my face, downturned in thought.

"Oh! Hagrid!" I said, trying to ignore Harry and Ron's snickering. "Bringin' in a Christmas tree?"

"Right on the first guess, Alabaster," Hagrid said from somewhere within the branches of the easily fifteen-foot tree.

"Want any help?" Ron asked. He was always the first one to do something… that is, if it wasn't homework.

"Nah, I'm all right," Hagrid said, "Thanks Ron."

"Get out of the way!" Draco hissed from behind us. "Oh, are you looking to earn some money, Weasley?"

He had evidently heard Ron's offer to help and then the tree, and connected dots 4 and 7 on a 12-dot Connect The Dots.

"Actually, no," I quickly interjected, cutting the rest of Draco's taunt short. "I'm looking to earn some more substantial coin than the pocket-change I've got so far from killing the Chameleon Ghouls that pop up. They always seem to carry some cash on hand."

"In that case, Mr Dresden," Professor Snape said, coming up the stairs out of the classroom, "I would suggest using less time talking and more time studying."

I fist pumped internally as Snape continued down the hall. It was one small moment in time, but it was a change in cause-and-effect, something I'd never observed before. Events this moment had turned out differently, so I knew for a fact I wasn't being railroaded on every little detail.

"Why do you put up with those two?" Ron said.

"I hate them both; Malfoy and Snape," Harry said. "I think a better question would be how do you put up with those two?"

"Well," I said, "I mostly try to keep my head down with Snape, I believe his partiality towards his own House helps in that regard. With Draco, we agreed to be… well, not friendly, per se, but not enemies."

"Wise choices both, Al," Hagrid said. The three Gryffindors echoed his sentiments. "Wish I knew 'em in my time at Hogwarts; although now that I think about it, I mighta bin ridiculed anyway because o' my size."

I felt Dominic nudge me.

 **Your display of wisdom to others has increased your WIS by 1.**

I sighed. So that sort of system was put in? It was almost as if this was shaping up to be a Gamer fanfic…

Dominic nudged me again.

 **The Fourth Wall has been breached; the breach will attract monsters for: 30:00**

I stared at the infobox, before the three Gryffindors started staring at me. "Alabaster? What's wrong?"

"Hagrid," I said as clanking footsteps could be heard far down the halls, "how fast can you run with that tree?"

"Not very fast, I'm afraid," Hagrid said.

Uh-oh.

 _ **Quest Added: Save Christmas!**_

 _ **\- Escort Hagrid to the Great Hall [ ]**_

… And it was an escort quest, too. _Fun_.

"Harry? Ron? Hermione? Do you know any combat spells?"

"There's Incendio and Expelliarmus, covered in Charms," Harry said.

"Plus I taught them Diffindo and Reducto after your fight with the troll," Hermione finished. "And what's wrong?"

"It'll be enough," I said, "And _that's_ what's wrong." I said this last bit right as a swarm of Chameleon Ghouls rounded the corner.

I drew my Longsword and my wand. "Let's get Hagrid to the Great Hall!"

* * *

We managed to get Hagrid over to the Great Hall with his Christmas tree in the space of around half an hour, so that when we reached the doors, my Monster Magnet debuff had cleared. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were coordinating the decorations, hanging holly and mistletoe on the walls. Twelve trees - Hagrid's being the thirteenth - stood around the hall, decorated alternatively with either candles or decorative icicles.

"Thanks wit' that," Hagrid said. "Dunno what I'd have done against that swarm."

 ** _Quest Complete: Save Christmas!_**

 **+5000 XP**

 **Level Up!**

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked, unaware of the quest.

"This is the last," I said.

"That reminds me," Hermione said. "Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour until lunch. We should be in the library."

"The library?" Hagrid said, following us as we all left the hall. "Bit keen, are yeh?"

"We're not working," Harry said. "Ever since you mentioned Nicholas Flamel, we've been trying to figure out who he is."

"You what?" Hagrid said, more astonished than angry. "I've told yeh, drop it. It's nothin' te you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicholas Flamel is, that's all," Hermione said.

I chose this moment to slip outside of the Great Hall and assemble my thoughts. It was nearing Christmas, so that meant Harry would be going into the Restricted Section in order to… do what again? I hadn't seen or read Philosopher's Stone in a long while, so I couldn't remember exactly _why_ he was heading to the Restricted Section. I shrugged mentally, and decided to drop the Gryffindors a line. As Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Hall for the library, I piped up and followed along beside them.

"You mentioned figuring out Nicholas Flamel?" I started. I had to choose my next words carefully - I couldn't let on that I knew more than I should. "I remember reading a fantasy novel with him as the sort of mentor figure - like Ben Kenobi, if any of you have heard of Star Wars - and the book hinged heavily on the fact that Nicholas Flamel was an alchemist."

"Oh? What book?" Hermione asked.

"… Funnily enough, I think it was called the Alchemyst, with a Y instead of an I," I said, "though it might be sort of hard-to-find. It never had very many copies or sequels created." This was a bold-faced lie, as The Alchemyst would not be published until 2007 and had five sequels.

"I think I'll pick it up for one of my Christmas reads," Hermione said, "and thanks for the help, Al. We'll check all the Alchemy and Potions books in the library."

I smiled, and turned away from the Gryffindors, heading not to the library but to the Slytherin common room. I wanted to finish the Mythbusters-repeating-ballista-style magazine and goatsfoot lever I was installing into my hand crossbow. It would make a nice Christmas gift to myself.

* * *

I looked over my newly-improved crossbow in the soft moonlight filtering through the lake water and into the common room. There was no fire in the hearth, as it had been put out for the night, tonight being Christmas eve. There was a not-uncomfortable chill in the air, enough to keep it brisk but not chilly, and most certainly enough to keep me awake after several days on end of labouring over the crossbow mechanisms, which had required many tries to actually get right. I rubbed my eyes, running on the fumes of the fumes, and set the crossbow aside, turning my full attention to Graymalkin, who was sleeping in my lap as I sat on one of the couches in the common room. I stroked behind her ears almost absent-mindedly, and my thoughts drifted as the echoes of the school clock tower seeped through both the hallways and the water, making it sound ethereal and almost dreamlike. My mind's eye flashes with a handful of images.

A tree, adorned with candles.

A ring of people, spinning… no, _dancing_ around it.

The same people, again, this time at a series of tables pushed together to make one long one. They were eating. _Feasting_.

Twelve strikes of the tower bell.

It was now midnight of December 25.

The Witching Hour.

I had almost drifted off to sleep when I heard a shuffle from the direction of the hearth. I drearily raised my crossbow from where I had set it on the couch, looking over and rubbing my eyes as an old, fat man in a red set of cold-weather gear trimmed with white fur came down and emerged from the hearth.

"I've got to thank those House-Elves again," the man said, "At this point they most likely know the castle's flue network better than I do." The man noticed me and looked a tad startled. I suppose he'd never had a crossbow pointed at him before. "Oh! My! What on Earth could you possibly need that for?"

"Sorry," I drawled sleepily, "In my experience at the castle so far, most out-of-the-ordinary noises are… bad things."

"Well, I suppose in your experience it's better to be safe than sorry," the man said. "Morozan - over in Russia - he's never a very jolly fellow without a good supply of tobacco." The man chuckled at that.

"Ergh… I'm still not entirely sure whether I'm hallucinating from lack of sleep or dreaming right now, then…" I blundered.

"Oh, don't worry, lad," the man said, rummaging through a large sack I hadn't noticed before, the white bob on the end of his stocking-cap swinging somewhat hypnotizingly. "You're dreaming."

"Mmm," I grunted admittingly, and lay down with Graymalkin still at my lap as the man placed a handful of packages wrapped up in decorated wrapping-paper at the foot of one end of the couch.

"Don't open these until morning, Al," the man said, "though Dominic tells me you'll like them. Have a good night's sleep, lad."

As my higher brain functions all shut down and unconsciousness took its hold on me, I could only wonder how the man knew my name…

* * *

Alabaster Returns!

I apologize for the really

 ** _(REALLY)_**

long time between updates, but I've been running short on motivation to write this whole thing.

See ye next time I decide to write a chapter,

DetectiveSky612


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